Uh oh... Here we go again! Joking aside, check out the efficiency threads is this forum for very long discussions on this subject.

In my personal opinion a heat pump is a waste of money in this country, you will never recoup the cost. If you want to eek out an extra 10 miles or so from your maximum range in the 2 or 3 weeks of sub-zero temperatures we have in the UK each year, then that cost/benefit decision is up to you.

 

A heat pump is just the same Aircon system as standard with an additional heat exchanger that can leak and a lot of additional switching valves that can leak or fail.......

 

Probably not worth it as a cost option for most people. Nice if it's included as standard.

 

I can only repeat what I've said before on why I've ordered an ID3 Tour with a Heat Pump.

My thinking was never about a heat pump paying for itself, it was about comfort and convenience on longer trips (in return distance) during winter.

If I’m on a longer drive and it’s cold, I can have a warm car and not lose as much range. That might mean I don’t need to stop to charge, I make it to another (better / faster) charger or not have to stop for as long. The alternative without a heat pump would be to have a colder car or lose more range.

It is expensive, but if I’m spending that much on a car then I’d rather spend (in overall cost terms) a little bit more than regret not having it. Especially as it (seemingly) can’t be fitted afterwards.

I don’t have an ICE to fall back on. I want to avoid public charging as much as I can on longer journeys. So I decided to go for the Tour. Once I’d done that it seemed worth going for the heat pump to help maximise that extra range in winter.

On it's efficiency - there have been mixed reports, but this test from Battery Life is an interesting comparison for the UK, because it took place in low single figure tempratures, ie just the sort you're going to have in the UK for a fair amount of the year. The only caveats are that they aren't going that quickly and they've both got the cabin temperature set pretty high. Even allowing for that, a 7.5% difference isn't too bad.

He did another test - not simultaneous, but on the same night - when it was much colder, but with the cabin temperature set lower. Results weren't much better, but there were some slight differences in the spec and tyres, so that could have affected the result.

 

7.5% of 300 miles is 22.5 extra miles per full charge. If you are going from 100% to around 10%,then that's only 20 miles.

Not worth the cost for the convience.

 

It won't pay for it's self but it will make the car more efficient when the heater is running. In my man maths it might make the car 10% more efficient over the year. As the cost of electricity to run my cars is around £300 a year I didn't go for a heat pump.

Driving slower or buying a smaller car makes much more difference. If you're on a long drive and range is tight just slow down by 10 mph, that will save more than the heat pump will.

 

It won't pay for it's self but it will make the car more efficient when the heater is running. In my man maths it might make the car 10% more efficient over the year. As the cost of electricity to run my cars is around £300 a year I didn't go for a heat pump.

Driving slower or buying a smaller car makes much more difference. If you're on a long drive and range is tight just slow down by 10 mph, that will save more than the heat pump will.

I entirely agree that a heat pump is not a cost effective extra.
We have one on our Life for the very unsatisfactory reason that the only car available in the right colour had one fitted. More Woman Maths than Man Maths in our case!

 

It perhaps will not pay for it's self in your use case however for almost everyone it also will not cost the headline figure (of adding it) over the life of the car either. I think it is worth it for some people and so VW have kept it as an option not standard so we can decide. One other factor is that it can make a noise at times when stationary, you hear it outside the car not in the car.

 

I wonder why VW didn't make a heat pump standard like some of the other manufacturers. Simplified production would save money after all.

 

I believe in some areas where it would be a more obvious benefit - like the Nordic countries - it was included as standard.

I’m guessing it was left as an option in other places to keep the cost down.

 

Thanks for the responses everyone, appreciate it, especially on a subject that seems to have been done to death already - so thanks for being patient with me asking nooby questions 👍

Decision made, I’ll leave it off the order, cheers

 

I am getting a heat pump on the car I have ordered.

I would sooner order it with the car now and regret it in the future if I didn't.

 

I wouldn’t, and didn’t on our eGolf either.

My thinking is that everyday journeys don’t get close to the range of the car, even in deepest winter, without the heat pump. The long trips would need a rapid charge stop anyway, so having it a few miles further down the road makes no odds - plus the long trips tend not to be in winter. And I struggle to think of a trip we’ve done where the heat pump would have saved us an extra charge stop.

Your thinking may differ if you’re regularly doing journeys close to the range of the car and it’s cold enough for much of the year to make a difference.

If you’re buying at the cheap end of the current ID.3 range (a 58kwh Life, which is what I’m considering) the heat pump is 4-5% extra cost. Not remotely worth it for me.

 

Have said before, and no doubt will say again:

Would you prefer a heatpump or an extra 5kWh of battery?

Unless they can reduce the price of the option it looks like very poor VFM to me.

 

Why do heat pump discussions cause such division, I’ve always wondered?!

It’s an option I’ve always felt I should have, but don’t want enough to pay the price being asked of it.

The past 3 months have shown that the ID.3 58 kWh covers my needs in all weathers without sacrificing speed or heat, so I’m happy I don’t need it anyway, but others might.

Choice is good, right?!

 

It's not just about cold, hard, calculations of whether the heat pump pays for itself either. Some options you want to spec just because you want them. I wanted dual-zone climate control simply because there are two climate sliders in the car, so it felt like they should each correspond to a different zone. I realise that is an insane reason to spend the extra money to have it, but it's my money, and I wanted it, so I did

Same with the heat pump. Some buyers might just get enjoyment from maximising the efficiency potential of their car in all weather conditions. Or get a sense of security from not having quite as big a delta between summer and winter range as they might have otherwise. That's as good a reason to get it as for plenty of other cost options in cars that people tick when buying all the time.

 

Perfectly summed up there @loggamatt.

I added it for pretty much the reasons you described, especially as a first time EV owner. Paying for itself didn’t come in to it, the same as for a different comfort or convenience feature.

Others won’t feel the need to, that’s fair enough.

 

VW ID.3 Has Significantly Higher Energy Draw For Heating Than Kona, Zoe

Unlike the good results the Hyundai Kona and Renault Zoe obtained in 2020, the VW ID.3 got a 9.6 score for energy efficiency at GreenNCAP tests.

insideevs.com

 

I’m a bit confused.

Is it saying that at 14c, the ID.3 is very efficient compared to a Zoe or Kona, but at -7c it isn’t because an ID.3 doesn’t have a heat pump as standard? Why didn’t they test one with a heat pump then?

I presume that’s why they fit them as standard in Nordic countries, where you’re more likely to encounter those temperatures for prolonged periods of time.

It makes sense to have it as an option for me, so you can buy it if you need it.

 

On the insideEVs link are they saying that the ID3 is more efficient on the motorway than the Kona?
The numbers I'm seeing don't suggest that's the case, unless 14°C is a magic number for the ID as I haven't driven the car on the main roads at such a high temperature yet [emoji3]
I'll be very happy if it is, and very surprised.
At the moment I don't think it's as efficient as the Niro let alone the Kona.

 

I was thinking similar, when I picked mine up in November it was quite mild, and I was getting some good numbers but I didn’t pay too much attention as I was enjoying the extra performance over the e-Golf at the time.

Time will tell I suppose.

 

To have a "heat pump or not" ... that is the question ;-)

I've ordered an ID.4 and agonised over the issue of ordering the extra of a heat-pump for £1k+ extra (I didn't get it !)

Like many on here, I researched it extensively and came to the conclusion that it's just not value for money. With the main "decider" being, the UK just doesn't have enough really cold days, (when for me) when I would be travelling long journeys to make the extra 10% mileage it would add - justified ...

I do alot of miles some years (20k) and realise that going electric means more "journey planning / stops" for the long client trips for work, so I'll take the approach, if I go out in the cold - I just need to stop more frequently for a rapid charge, if I happen to be doing a long trip ! ...

 

I've just looked at the green ncap site and their winter test is saying the car uses 38.3kWh/100km. They say that gives the car a range of 151km.
Now I don't think they tested the car properly at all. Its was probably a short range test with the car using more energy to heat the battery than to drive the wheels.

It's the first time I've been seen to defend the IDs winter efficiency but even I couldn't drive it hard enough to only get 94 miles on a trip.

 

VW should sell ID branded warm jumpers that have “I didn’t spec the heat pump” written on them for a laugh

 

Not enough detail, surely “I didn’t spec the heat pump, results would indicate that the benefits from such a device would not be realised in a UK climate” would be more appropriate?

You might need to go round the back as well....

 

I've just skim read some of the test procedures on the green ncap site, not interesting reading, and if I understand it correctly the efficiency figures are including charging losses.
It also looks like they drive the cars quite hard, mention of accelerating from 110-130kph with full throttle and 80-130kph in 4th gear with full throttle and graphs showing a slow down from 130 to 110 then accelerate every minute the times then slow down to 80 and accelerate to 130. The highway test only lasts 800 seconds.

Looks like it's designed to work the car hard on the highway test and see how bad it is, nearly the opposite of the WLTP tests.

 

The T shirt only costs £1250 as well.

 

It does, but it comes with a free Heat Pump.