Elon Musk: Tesla Model Y heat pump is some of the best engineering I’ve seen in a while - Electrek
Elon Musk praised Tesla’s team for the Model Y’s heat pump – a feature that could make the electric SUV much more efficient in colder climates. Last week, Tesla started deliveries of the Model Y, its fourth vehicle in the current lineup and fifth model ever. Since the start of deliveries, we...
The Model Y is Tesla's first product that uses a heat pump, rather than a resistance heater, to heat the cabin and battery. This is important because heat pumps are more efficient, and in cold weather the difference between the two heating systems could be a significant difference in actual range -- I wouldn't be surprised if the heat pump allowed you to have 5% to 10% more range on a cold day.
I haven't seen the answer anywhere -- will the Cybertruck follow the Model Y's lead and use a heat pump, or will it feature a resistance heater like all other Teslas?
The first wave of compliance EVs all used resistance heaters, as far as I know. Now, I'm not sure why EVs have featured resistance heating instead of heat pumps. I'd love to learn more about why it has taken Tesla so long to fit a more-efficient heat pump.
A Youtuber discusses more about the Model Y's heat pump here. At 2:15 there is a helpful discussion explaining more about how these different technologies work:
