Model 3 Heatpump soon?

[LongRanger]

I think I'm going to design and market a product that is a superbottle with an octovalve. Perfect for drinking tapwater and making tea.

 

[Adopado]

It is a resistive heater as far as I am aware, that is why it warms up so quickly, but also uses much more power. A heat pump will take longer to heat up but will be much more efficient. I can only assume tesla didn't think about it initially because all they think of is California.

It's a trade off between faster heat (original design) or slightly slower heat and higher efficiency (new design). I will be interested to see how the increase in efficiency of the heater will actually impact the overall winter mileage. My bet is that it's going to be a fairly small benefit, but nonetheless worth having (so long as it doesn't mean starting off with a colder journey unless people have done the morning pre-heat).

 

[Glan gluaisne]

My experience was that a car with a reversible heat pump takes a lot longer to de-ice the windscreen in winter, so the preconditioning period was a lot longer than with a PTC heater. Years ago, I had an add-on PTC heater that plugged into the cigarette lighter socket and was fixed to the dash with a suction cup, that I bought specifically because it de-iced the windscreen very quickly.

I would guess that the reversible heat pump offers a significant benefit for those living in areas of the US where a lot of heating is needed in winter, but the benefit in our, relatively mild, climate may not be so noticeable. Part of it will come down to journey time, too, as the likely longer precondition time with a reversible heat pump (yet to be proven, AFAIK) may not be offset by the saving in heating energy during the journey itself.

 

[dan223]

It's a trade off between faster heat (original design) or slightly slower heat and higher efficiency (new design). I will be interested to see how the increase in efficiency of the heater will actually impact the overall winter mileage. My bet is that it's going to be a fairly small benefit, but nonetheless worth having (so long as it doesn't mean starting off with a colder journey unless people have done the morning pre-heat).

Apparently it is up to 300% more efficient, the heat pump can generate 2-3kw worth of heat from 1kw, I would think if you put the two cars side by side it would add up. Baring in mind the current resistive heater can use up to 7kw to, having it on for slightly longer to warm up I don't think will be a massive issue, especially with preheating. I believe it allowed them to rate the MY with a longer range because of the switch.

 

[Rustybkts]

I have experience of heat pumps with the Zoe and they have a booster resistive heater as well. We found that out when the Air Con compressor died a death. Amazingly the car functioned as though it was working and there was enough heat from the booster heater to get through the winter although chillingly.

I had the compressor replaced recently with one sourced from Ebay before selling the car and the old one had completely disintegrated internally. An odd design with a scroll moving eccentrically within another scroll.
The car thought it was operating as it charged ok as well.......very odd.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Interesting that Renault fitted a PTC together with the reversible heat pump, sounds like the best of both worlds, fast heat up plus efficient journey heating. That system would definitely have worked better than just a reversible heat pump on its own, I'm sure. I doubt there would be a significant hit on range, either, given that the boost heating wouldn't be on for long normally.