OK, I need some kind hot air in my car!

Is it in green plus mode? The salesperson was telling me ac/heat doesn't work in green+. If not this person had an error on his heat pump and no freon in his car. https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/e-mini-2020/354463-air-conditioner-not-working.html

 

Thinking you better have the dealer check it. Ours gives both cold and heat here in Denver.

 

Assuming you've tried all of the HVAC settings and turning the car on/off, I would say make an appointment ASAP.

 

The SE has both a resistive heater and a heat pump in a much more complex system than an ICE car.

*All of the below is based on my assumption that the HVAC system is relatively similar to the i3

When it's mildly cold (about some temperature around 40F) the car uses the heat pump which is the same thing as the AC compressor but with different refrigerant routing.

When it's super cold, the heat pump is no longer effective so the car uses the resistive heater. This isn't just a hot thing with air blowing across it, it's actually heating up coolant which then heats the cabin and battery.

No heat without any error codes is most likely some sort of bad control, probably because a sensor is reporting incorrect information.

Out of curiosity, have you looked at the reported outside air temperature displayed on the dash? Is that number correct?

Do you get no heat out of both sides of the dual zone climate control? Or is maybe the passenger side warm?

 

Here's the system layout in heating mode:


There are two separate loops, one with refrigerant and one with coolant.

This is the same diagram in cooling mode:

 

Just want to say that I enjoy your posts immensely. It's great to learn a bit about the technology that drives these vehicles.

 

Seems like another occasion to post this photo of all the plumbing that's under the SE's hood.

 

Can you scare up a technical document on the headlights? I would really like to know more about them.

 

Please update us on what the dealer says!

Most (all?) modern cars have a coolant level sensor that will show a warning on the dash if the coolant is low so it seems unlikely that it's past the low mark (may be hard to see though).

 

I've looked a bit but most technical docs are either for marketing or mechanic training. At best I may be able to find something about aiming/leveling or calibration but probably not much else about our non-matrix headlights...

Maybe someone could suction cup a GoPro to them and watch them work

 

Did they at least send you a photo of the damage?

 

Certainly sounds possible to me. The underside of the car is well protected, but we have an active grill shutter which could leave it exposed when open. It's unfortunate that they can't keep better control over their construction materials!