While Tesla claims the glass roof design of its cars can effectively prevent the sun’s heat from roasting the cabin, anyone who’s spent time in one on a scorching Aussie summer day can attest otherwise.

As we wrote in this review of the Tesla Model 3 from a few years back, “the tinted, fixed-glass roof is great at night, but punishingly hot under an Aussie sun, forcing the air-con to work harder”.

Rather than leave the situation as is, it appears Tesla is still working on solutions, with newly published patent filings revealing some of its potential fixes.

The first, uncovered by Autoblog, points to a breathable layer positioned beneath the outer glass layer. The multi-layer solution provides an air cushion to reduce heat and noise transfer.

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The honeycomb structure mounted under the outer glass can be used to move cabin air, and distribute cooled or heated air more evenly through the cabin. More air means a quicker heat exchange in the cabin, and passive cooled air could be a quicker way of dropping the interior temperature without the need to run the cabin fan as fast.

A slower fan means a quieter cabin, and between the reduced noise and quicker cooling, interior occupants should be less stressed by the heat in warm climates.

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The second standout solution was discovered by Inside EVs, but rather than a radical all-new solution to cabin cooling, comes as an adaptation of systems already in use.

Much like how ventilated seats work, pulling air past you to draw moisture off your skin and provide a cooling effect, Tesla has registered a patent for a similar negative-pressure cooling system.

In principle, it’s similar to systems from Mazda and Toyota, which draw ambient air into a parked car to reduce the inside temperature, without actively cooling it.

Tesla’s system claims to target ‘hot air pockets’ and works much like the recirculation system already fitted in cars, pulling partially-cooled air out of hot spots in the cabin, to be further cooled. 

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However, unlike traditional recirculation, which has fixed draw points, the ‘targeted’ system will monitor places where heat tends to build up, like areas in full sun, or under the glass roof, and target those spots to maintain a more even cabin temperature.

As is so often the case with patent applications, the technology described may not be representative of a future product, and could simply be an avenue Tesla is exploring among others. Anything to avoid fitting a regular opaque roof panel with an insulated headliner, it seems.