4 ms·

I think the importance of heatpumps is overblown. If you go for a highway trip, your car consumes 10kW+ and 1kW heating won't matter much. Additionally, on long

I think the importance of heatpumps is overblown. If you go for a highway trip, your car consumes 10kW+ and 1kW heating won't matter much. Additionally, on longer trips the cabin's already warm, no need to run the heater that much.

pavon 2y ago
As an owner of a EV, who regularly sees over 20% of the energy used during the winter goes to heating the cabin, I can't agree.
dzhiurgis 2y ago
Kinda. Im leqd to believe heatpump is a $50 device that manufacturers charge $2k for (must be more to it honestly). If that saves 10% of range that’s 10% less batteries which cost more than $50. Eventually all these savings add up so much that EV is lighter and cheaper than similar ICE vehicle…
- KK7NIL 2y ago
  > Im leqd to believe heatpump is a $50 device that manufacturers charge $2k for (must be more to it honestly). Turning an AC unit into a heatpump is indeed pretty simple, but that type of heatpump doesn't work well when the temperature gradient is too high. What you'd need to heat a car during winter is a "high temperature heat pump", which usually requires multiple stages, different thermal fluids, etc. That's a much more complex and expensive system, not well suited to vehicles.
  - dzhiurgis 2y ago
    AFAIK in cold climates they use different refrigerant like methane, but that’s even more expensive.
    - Dylan16807 2y ago
      Expensive why? Methane itself is dirt cheap.
      - dzhiurgis 2y ago
        Not sure. Maybe higher pressure or corrosion means beefier gear.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
panladafrozen 2y ago
It regularly gets cold enough here that the the temp gauge on my conventional ICE barely rises over an hour without covering the cooling vents manually. We're wasting enormous amount of energy on non-insulation/inefficient temperature control
beAbU 2y ago
I can real-time adjust my car's range by changing the temperature and fan speed. As I bump up the temperature, the range computer immediately goes down in significant increments. It's not been proper cold here since I got my EV, but at the moment I'm seeing about a 30km range decrease with cabin heating on.

pavon 2y ago

As an owner of a EV, who regularly sees over 20% of the energy used during the winter goes to heating the cabin, I can't agree.

dzhiurgis 2y ago

Kinda. Im leqd to believe heatpump is a $50 device that manufacturers charge $2k for (must be more to it honestly). If that saves 10% of range that’s 10% less batteries which cost more than $50. Eventually all these savings add up so much that EV is lighter and cheaper than similar ICE vehicle…

KK7NIL 2y ago
> Im leqd to believe heatpump is a $50 device that manufacturers charge $2k for (must be more to it honestly). Turning an AC unit into a heatpump is indeed pretty simple, but that type of heatpump doesn't work well when the temperature gradient is too high. What you'd need to heat a car during winter is a "high temperature heat pump", which usually requires multiple stages, different thermal fluids, etc. That's a much more complex and expensive system, not well suited to vehicles.
- dzhiurgis 2y ago
  AFAIK in cold climates they use different refrigerant like methane, but that’s even more expensive.
  - Dylan16807 2y ago
    Expensive why? Methane itself is dirt cheap.
    - dzhiurgis 2y ago
      Not sure. Maybe higher pressure or corrosion means beefier gear.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

panladafrozen 2y ago

It regularly gets cold enough here that the the temp gauge on my conventional ICE barely rises over an hour without covering the cooling vents manually. We're wasting enormous amount of energy on non-insulation/inefficient temperature control

beAbU 2y ago

I can real-time adjust my car's range by changing the temperature and fan speed. As I bump up the temperature, the range computer immediately goes down in significant increments. It's not been proper cold here since I got my EV, but at the moment I'm seeing about a 30km range decrease with cabin heating on.