[james79]

Elon Musk: Tesla Model Y heat pump is some of the best engineering I’ve seen in a while

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...

electrek.co

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:

 

[Puhiniho]

Heat pump have efficiency issues in colder climates and they typically also need a backup heat source. Every system will have pros and cons. I would just assume Tesla is testing out this system and if successful would implement them in future vehicles. Although trucks tend to operate at extremes and not sure if this system would be a tried and true system to use. I guess we'll see. BTW, the video is interesting but they are just guessing the benefits and are obviously fan-boys. I'd take everything they said with a "300%" grain of salt (tongue and cheek).

 

[Ty Pope]

Actually, I hope they use a heat pump with a supplemental cab heater like my F350 has. It's basically a resistive heater inline with the vents (think hair dryer element). This would help heat the cab when the weather gets too cold and also could be used to instantly heat things up when you are first starting out after parking outside in the cold.

 

[Mickey]

Musk confirmed on Twitter that the Cybertruck will have a heat pump.

 

[hampshire]

I did not understand why this was important until I watched this video that explained everything in an easy to understand manner. Definitely watch this