Rumor is that the Model Y will get rid of the PTC heater in favor of a heat pump with a significantly redesigned cooling system. I have always wondered why Tesla didn't follow the other brands who offer a heat pump for us who love cold weather.
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That is typical when too cold for the heat pump to work efficiently. Hopefully a heated steering wheel too.
I can imagine with the success (?) of using the motor as a heat source that they can ditch the PTC heater and switch to just a heat pump. This would work out as close to a zero or reduction in parts change. A heat pump will minimally need the reversing valve, they can delete the PTC. They already have a heat exchanger with the motor/battery cooling loop.
ratsbew
Active Member
I voted no, but I really hope that it does. A heat pump would be a relatively minor upgrade from Model 3 as far as risk goes.
Model Y is $5,000 more than the 3 and three years newer. Tesla doesn't stand still so I really hope that they do include a heat pump.
Model Y is $5,000 more than the 3 and three years newer. Tesla doesn't stand still so I really hope that they do include a heat pump.
Bikeman
Member
I expect the answer is also no, but am hoping that a heat pump is in the works. I currently drive a Prius Prime, and the heat pump in that is extremely efficient compared to resistance heating, and also provides cool air in the warmer months.
If I had a nickel for every fanboi that tried to defend Tesla's lack of a heat pump, I would be rich by now.
Years of Tesla fans arguing that a heat pump is not helping and doesn't work in an EV and all the other EVs that have one are doing it wrong. Only because Tesla didn't have one in their cars up to that point. Now that we know the Model Y has one, can all those Tesla fan boys admit they had no clue and were just defending Tesla because it is Tesla?
Bad news for you. It is very unlikely that a solely heat pump based system is going to work better in really cold temperatures. You will be asking the system to pump heat from outside to the inside. When it is -30 there isn't really a whole lot of heat to be pumped. I am really interested to see how well this works in practice. Hopefully some folks in really cold places get their hands on Ys before it warms up.
Even at 0 there isn't a lot of heat to be pumped. You are trying to extract heat from 0 degree air and move it up a gradient to try and blow say 80 degree air in to the cabin to try and maintain 70 degrees. Thankfully someone found a patent by Tesla where they are using the compressor motor to generate heat by running it inefficiently. Since that is effectively a resistance heat source, I'm not sure how much efficiency will be gained versus the PTC heater at really cold temperature. Certainly at mild temperatures, the heat pump system will be more efficient.
Sorry to be so direct, but it's so annoying that people are always coming with the one, unlikely and rare scenario where it doesn't work so well. So what the heat pump will not help efficiency much in -30 degree weather. Does it hurt efficiency? Not at all. Does a heat pump help in what is the majority of cases among the fleet? Absolutely. That's what matters.
It's like arguing that regen doesn't help in -30 degree. Yes we know, when the battery is cold you have zero regen. Does that mean regen is a bad idea? No! Because we are not making decisions based on extreme cases.
Sounds like if to don’t live in the south, your an extreme case. Unusually warm winter here and only got below -20F twice. But long stretches at 0 or less. Hopefully running in inefficient mode, this heat pump can generate enough heat to make driving more comfortable than an old air cooled VW....
I suspect it will be similar to my home heat pump. If I recall correctly, around 32* F, I get around 2 watts of heat per input watt. It doesn't break even (equivalent to resistive) until around 0* F. In central MD, I suspect the average temp that I'll be running the heat will be closer to 40*. That should yield somewhere around 2.5 watts per watt. I'm quite happy to see the heat pump in my first Tesla!
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