I don't know why you are arguing about this. You have no data to show the heat pump would actually save a significant amount of energy. The heat pump in homes typically uses resistive backup heat at temperatures below something like 25 °F which is above the 20 °F used for the AAA test. So how might that have helped in this scenario???
There is an air conditioner in the car already. A heat pump is the same unit with a very few additional parts to allow it to switch between heating and cooling. So where is the large added expense?
I think your reasoning that California designers can't understand the concept of temperature to be humorous.
I think your scoffing rationalizations when owners are faced with the many cold weather problems this car has that extend even into things like frozen window seals, frozen unusable charging ports, etc., are quite humerous, especially when you live in SC which has a climate identified as subtropical and has a palm tree on your flag.
AAA pointed out a legitimate fact re: energy usage of this car when the weather is cold. Average commute distance for Americans is 16 miles. I have absolutely gotten 40% efficiency hit over those distances with a cold car. Then I get the same hit when I drive it back. If I have a day where I'm also running a couple of errands it's likely that all of my travel, which could be 80+ miles will have 40% efficiency hit.
Yes, if you charge the car at home every day before you leave then you should have plenty of range for most activities, but owners still need to be aware of these limitations when choosing their vehicle and they need to be aware that Tesla's efficiency numbers are nowhere near reality when they have to pay for the juice for their electric car when temps are cold.
Crying that AAA article is FUD is just sticking head in the ground about real world limitations.
Fun side fact... I charged my car at work yesterday and parked it at 11AM with 71% on the battery. When I left at 4pm the battery was at 70%. When I got home the battery was at 65% after driving 9 miles with outside temps of about 38F and the cabin heater set to 75F.
Got up this morning and the car showed 61% with no snowflake icon. Drove it to work, 9 miles and battery at 56%. I just woke the car up to look and the battery is at 55%.
My commute is 9 miles that is mostly free flowing at 40-50mph.
So I've used 15% of the battery approximately to drive the car about 30 miles which works out to about a 50% hit over optimal range.