How the Mighty Heat Pump Helps EVs in the Cold

Author: Polly

Jun. 17, 2024

How the Mighty Heat Pump Helps EVs in the Cold

Perhaps you&#;ve heard: In many places, it&#;s really very cold out. Deep freezes hit wide bands of the US this week; snow and freezing rain have swept across northern Europe. This is all less than ideal for electric vehicles, which historically have not loved the cold. A handful of Chicago Tesla Supercharger stations made headlines this week after some EVs affected by the temperatures completely ran out of battery and had to be towed.

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Electric vehicles have a hard time in cold weather for two reasons. One is chemical: Lithium-ion batteries, the kind that make electric cars (and phones) go, rely on lithium ions moving from their negatively charged conductors (cathodes) to the positively charged ones (anodes). Cold makes the ions move more slowly to the anode, meaning it&#;s harder to charge a chilly battery than a toasty one. The other reason is more practical: Cold weather means car occupants are more likely to turn on the heat, and the heaters used to warm up a car draw power from the electric battery. This reduces range, sometimes significantly. Tests by AAA, Consumer Reports, and the EV battery data company Recurrent have found that freezing temperatures reduce vehicles&#; ranges by somewhere between 16 and 46 percent. (Very cold weather also reduces gas-powered vehicles&#; mileage, by between 15 and 24 percent.)

But in the past few years, a climate change hero technology has made its way into electric vehicles, one that has improved&#;but not solved&#;their cold weather issues: heat pumps. Heat pumps transfer heat from outside the car to help keep passengers warm, and so avoid sucking too much power away from the battery. And yes, heat pumps can still bring warm air into the car even if it&#;s freezing outside, albeit with mixed success. As counterintuitive as it sounds, there is still a good amount of heat that can be drawn from air that&#;s, say, 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

Today, heat pumps come in many, but not all, new electric vehicles. Teslas have come with a proprietary heat pump tech since . Jaguar&#;s I-Pace has one built in, as does BMW&#;s latest i-series cars, Hyundai&#;s Ioniq 5, Audi&#;s newest e-Tron, and Kia&#;s new electrified flagship, the EV9.

&#;Any electric vehicle that comes out right now and doesn&#;t have a heat pump is a dinosaur already,&#; says John Kelly, an automotive technology professor and instructor focusing on hybrid and electric vehicle technology at Weber State University.

Heat pumps are ultra-efficient because they transfer heat from existing sources instead of creating it. So in a home, if you&#;re using a furnace, you&#;re burning planet-warming gas to generate new heat that&#;s then blown around the structure. A heat pump instead extracts warmth from outdoor air and pumps it inside.

It&#;s the same principle for heat pumps in EVs. An internal-combustion car burns gasoline to power the vehicle, but in doing so it produces a whole lot of waste heat, which is then pumped into the cabin. Electric vehicles are way more efficient, with more than three-quarters of their electricity going towards moving the wheels, according to US federal data. That means there&#;s less waste heat to capture and warm the passengers. With a heat pump, an EV can extract warmth from outdoor air&#;again, even if it&#;s bitterly cold out&#;to warm the interior and even its battery, increasing the vehicle&#;s efficiency in cold weather.

3 Reasons to Buy an EV With a Heat Pump

3 Reasons to Buy an EV With a Heat Pump

Unlike a gas car, electric vehicles rely on the battery to create heat. Heat pumps can help them be more efficient.

Connor Hoffman   |  

Jan 5,   |  

3 min read

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Nissan

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Cold weather poses a challenge for electric vehicles. When the temperature drops, so does range. But some EVs fare better in winter than others, and their edge lies in the device they use to warm up the cabin and its occupants: the heat pump.

The massive lithium-ion batteries in EVs work well when temperatures are moderate, but when it's cold outside, lithium ions slow down, making batteries less efficient, which saps range. But EVs face another, even greater cold-weather challenge. Unlike gas-powered cars, which use the excess heat from the engine to warm the cabin, EVs produce very little waste heat and therefore must rely on their already-taxed batteries to warm things up. This process, more than the cold itself, is the real winter range killer.

That's where EVs with heat pumps have a distinct advantage. Many EVs warm their cabins with resistive heaters, which use electricity to heat wires and then blow air over them. That process draws considerable energy from the battery. The Nissan Ariya, Hyundai Ioniq 5, all new Tesla models, and a growing number of other electric vehicles now come with heat pumps, which use a far more efficient warming process, leaving more charge available for propulsion.

Heat pumps have gained popularity in recent years as a promising piece of range-preserving technology. This is especially important if you live where the mercury regularly dips below freezing.

Hyundai

Heat Pumps Preserve Range in Cold Weather

Given how range-conscious many EV drivers are, anything that saves range is worth considering, and heat pumps do just that. Instead of heating up wires, heat pumps essentially move heat from outside the car to inside, akin to a refrigerator but in reverse. Outside air is drawn in and compressed, and the resulting heat from the system's condenser is used to warm the cabin.

The process is highly efficient, so it has minimal impact on range. In a study conducted by electric mobility-focused publication Move Electric, EVs with resistive heat fell short of their typical range by 33.6% on average in cold weather, while cars with heat pumps fell short by 25.4%.

Tesla

Heat Pumps Can Precondition the Cabin Before You Leave Home

One of the great perks of owning an EV is the ability to precondition the cabin before you head out on a frigid morning. Just set your departure time in the infotainment system or through a smartphone app and enjoy a toasty cabin when it's time to go.

Heat pumps make this process far more efficient, leaving as much power as possible for actual driving. If you precondition your car when it's plugged in, you'll be able to leave home with both a warm car and a full charge.

Efficiency is even more important if you warm your car when it's not plugged in because you don't want to do anything to drain your battery before setting out in the cold.

Tesla

Heat Pumps Can Speed Up Charging

The cabin isn't the only place where heat is needed. EV batteries charge fastest when the ambient temperature is between about 60 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. In colder temperatures, the battery benefits from being warmed before you plug in.

Many EVs have settings that can begin preconditioning the battery on the way to a charger, but that warming process draws energy from the battery. Heat pump-equipped EVs can employ the same efficient process used to warm the cabin to precondition the battery, meaning you'll have less reason to fret about your dwindling range while you're making your way to a charger.

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This site is for educational purposes only. The third parties listed are not affiliated with Capital One and are solely responsible for their opinions, products and services. Capital One does not provide, endorse or guarantee any third-party product, service, information or recommendation listed above. The information presented in this article is believed to be accurate at the time of publication, but is subject to change. The images shown are for illustration purposes only and may not be an exact representation of the product. The material provided on this site is not intended to provide legal, investment, or financial advice or to indicate the availability or suitability of any Capital One product or service to your unique circumstances. For specific advice about your unique circumstances, you may wish to consult a qualified professional.

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