Installing a heat pump

[Yellow Buddy]

Tesla figured out how to offset the exorbitant costs of the battery and scale production to not lose a ton of money. Ford was incorrect to "transition" customers and its BEV sales numbers and losses back that up. The current generation of Ford EV's will end up being the best built, but it is not a sustainable business model and will not scale. Future Ford BEV's will look more like Tesla's and have less parts, amenities, and options. Battery costs don't seem to be decreasing anytime soon. Toyota was correct to sit out this generation of EV's.

Tesla got here with transition…

Their first BEV also had a shifter, it had a transmission. Their second vehicle offered 7 row seats in an effort to avoid building an SUV, which it ultimately had to do to help with transition. The 2 screens..transition. Resistive heat, recall seats, leather, alcantra, they were all part of Teslas transition from an unprofitable company to where it is today.

They’ve got a tremendous head start there. Where Tesla has learned and iterated with their vehicles, Ford is still early on. Personally, I equate the current gen Ford BEVs with the 1st gen Model S - which also weren’t profitable..

Sponsored

 

[frost22]

A puffer jacket is dirt cheap. That and seat heat....

Plug in a heated blanket to the dash outlet

 

[RickLightning]

Funny story. Years ago I worked for a short period of time for a woman, who told me how she and her husband had a VW van, and bundled the kids up and went on trips. It had a propane stove in it that they used to keep warm while driving.

 

[Jseis]

Plug in a heated blanket to the dash outlet

Funny, I was thinking of the comments my dad made about winter driving in the 30’s with a car coat and a leg blanket for the ladies.

 

[Maquis]

Funny story. Years ago I worked for a short period of time for a woman, who told me how she and her husband had a VW van, and bundled the kids up and went on trips. It had a propane stove in it that they used to keep warm while driving.

I had a VW when I was a poor college student in Chicago. I had to keep a scraper handy to clear the inside of the windshield……while driving.
Some models offered a gasoline-fired heater as an option.
The standard heat from the air-cooled engine was very lacking.

 

[LightningCanuckNB]

We can only guess, but I don't expect a notable increase. Will it help on a short trip vs the current heater? Sure. Or help a truck that sits at a cold jobsite everyday? Maybe. But significant range increase? No.

When Tesla added a heatpump the cold-weather delta was measured by various reviews - it was 3.2 miles/kWh with a pump, compared with 2.9 miles/kWh for ones without. That is 0.3 miles/kwh extra. Does not sound like a lot, but it is actually a 10% increase in range in cold weather which is quite significant. Since the Lightning has more interior room it has to keep warm, it may make even more of a difference.

 

[LightningCanuckNB]

I know it’s the wrong forums but I have found Rivians solution to be quite good where they utilize motor waste heat to warm the cabin. I’ve found that it o be quite efficient and capable in moderate temperatures and wouldn’t have known it wasn’t a heat pump running.

If they could pair that with a heat pump, I think that would might some of the colder temp issues and give enough BTUs to power through in the transition climates but I don’t think we’ll truly be able to get away from resistive heat at freezing temps.

That is not unique to Rivian, it is also how Tesla's heat pumps work and I imagine will also be how Fords work... it would kind of be braindead to not capture the waste heat from the motor and battery and redirect it to the cabin if you're already making a heat pump.

 

[RickLightning]

I just saw that Ford said the EPA range for the 2024 with heat pump is 240. The previous was 230. 240/230 is an increase of 4.3%. So, the ER might be 320 * 1.043 = 334.

I said it would be "negligible". That's pretty negligible.

 

[sotek2345]

I just saw that Ford said the EPA range for the 2024 with heat pump is 240. The previous was 230. 240/230 is an increase of 4.3%. So, the ER might be 320 * 1.043 = 334.

I said it would be "negligible". That's pretty negligible.

That is also mixed driving. The benefit will be less at highway speeds because you use less heat per mile driver the faster you go.

 

[benderofbows]

I just saw that Ford said the EPA range for the 2024 with heat pump is 240. The previous was 230. 240/230 is an increase of 4.3%. So, the ER might be 320 * 1.043 = 334.

I said it would be "negligible". That's pretty negligible.

I thought it went from 230 to 240 when they added seat heaters to all trims for 2023? Which would be even more negligible?

 

[bmwhitetx]

I just saw that Ford said the EPA range for the 2024 with heat pump is 240. The previous was 230. 240/230 is an increase of 4.3%. So, the ER might be 320 * 1.043 = 334.

I said it would be "negligible". That's pretty negligible.

2022 was 230. For 2023 it was 240 already. 320 for ER. So yeah - negligible.
https://media.ford.com/content/dam/.../f150lightning/F-150 Lightning Tech Specs.pdf

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Maybe it’s me…but around town I don’t worry about my heat usage. Heaters, auto climate is all on.

When I go on a road trip with multiple charging stops - I bundle up and all heat stays off. Even with a heat pump I’d keep it off. I either don’t care or if I care, I do everything possible for the last mile of range.

 

[TaxmanHog]

https://www.ford.com/support/how-to...-injection-heat-pump-for-the-f-150-lightning/