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0 pointsrootusrootus1mo ago0 comments

> future where makers offer a sodium battery and heat pump version

AFAIK most EVs already use heat pumps today, so the future happens whenever sodium batteries become mainstream.

0 comments

IIRC there are some surprising holdouts, at least in the NA market. For example as far as I'm aware the Mustang Mach-E still ships with a resistive heater.

rootusrootusOP1mo ago

> Mustang Mach-E still ships with a resistive heater

Nope, the Mach E and Lightning both have a heat pump (well, just the Mach E now, I suppose, since the Lightning is out of production).

tzs1mo ago

It should be noted that started with the 2025 model. Earlier Mach-Es just had resistance heating.

formerly_proven1mo ago

Vehicle ASHP do little in deep cold temperatures, since the evaporator is necessarily so small. They're mostly effective in the 0-15C range. Note that all EVs have PTC heaters, regardless of heat pump. The PTC is what does most of the work for getting the interior to temperature quickly (they're 5-10 kW).

expedition321mo ago

The cheaper EVs don't. Think 35k range.

Obviously Tesla and the like are more luxury cars but if EV is to become mainstream they need to compete with ICE Kia's and Volkswagen.

rsynnott1mo ago

The VW id.3 costs about 30k. It doesn't have a heat pump by default, but it's a 1,200 EUR add-on. Which probably makes sense; in some markets where it's sold it doesn't really get cold enough that one is of significant benefit.

Interestingly, the Hyundai Inster (20k EUR) and Renault 5 (25k EUR) both have heat pumps as standard equipment.

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