The best EVs with heat pumps – and why you need one

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you’ll have heard of heat pumps. But while they’re most often touted as a way of heating our homes, heat pumps also have a very important role to play in the automotive world, where they’re increasingly being employed in electric cars as a more efficient form of warming the battery and passenger compartment than a conventional heater.

In fact, it’s becoming harder to find an EV that doesn’t have a heat pump than one that does. In the UK especially, heat pumps are increasingly being deployed as a way to mitigate the deleterious effect our winter weather has on electric cars’ range. For that reason, if you’re in the market for an EV, choosing one with a heat pump is a very good idea.

What is a heat pump – and how does it work?

Think of the principle as being the same as that of an air-conditioning unit or a fridge. It contains a refrigerant liquid and when this liquid is run through a heat exchanger, and warm air is blown over it, it turns to a gas.

This warm air doesn’t actually have to be all that warm in order for this to happen – it’ll work even in colder ambient temperatures. And in an EV, the heat pump can harness the excess heat generated by the battery and drivetrain once they’re up to temperature too, to make this effect more pronounced.

Once the refrigerant is in gaseous form, it’s compressed, causing its temperature to rise. It then passes through another heat exchanger and the heat that’s produced is then used to warm the car. The gas reverts to a liquid state and returns to the beginning of the cycle.

Reversible heat pumps can run this same cycle in reverse, which is effectively what an air-conditioning system does, in order to cool the battery if necessary.

Why is a heat pump worth having in an electric car?

Quite simply, because generating heat is important in an EV. Batteries are at their most efficient when they’re kept within a certain temperature range, so most EVs have a thermal management system to heat the battery (or cool it) if the ambient temperature is outside that range.

Of course, heating or cooling the battery steals valuable charge from it, which affects the range – it’s for this reason that the range of an electric car usually takes such a hit in the winter (not to mention, of course, the burden on the battery that comes from heating the occupants as well).

If one can generate this heat more efficiently, then the toll on the car’s range is lessened. And because heat pumps are a more efficient way of generating heat than the conventional way – which is simply to pass blown air over an electric heater element to warm it – they’re a more desirable form of heating, and can reduce the amount by which an EV’s range drops in the winter.

The best EVs with heat pumps

Trouble is, heat pumps are more expensive than conventional heaters, which is why they aren’t fitted by default in electric cars. But more and more manufacturers are coming out with models that either have heat pumps as standard, or to which they can be added as an optional extra. Here are our five favourite EVs that fit the bill.

BMW i4

With its odd combination of steel and air suspension, the i4 manages to be both a brilliant driver’s car and a comfortable executive express – and thanks to the large, hatchback boot and roomy interior, it’s practical, too. Our favourite i4 is the entry-level version and the good news is that even this has a heat pump as standard, which means you get the benefit no matter which i4 you choose.

Polestar 2

Unfortunately you don’t get a heat pump as standard on the Polestar 2 – another of our favourite EVs. You have to choose the Plus pack to get one, which is a not-inconsiderable £4,000 over and above the standard car’s list price.

That said, you also get a glut of other extras included, such as an uprated sound system, better seat upholstery and interior inserts, wireless phone charging and mood lighting. What’s more, we reckon the 2 is worth it – in long range, single-motor form it’s one of the most complete electric cars on the market.

Peugeot e-208

Towards the end of 2021, all of the EVs that share Peugeot’s 50kWh battery architecture (of which the e-208 is one) got a boost in specification which included the addition of a heat pump, boosting the official range in the e-208’s case by seven miles, while adding even more in cold conditions.

That makes the e-208 the most affordable EV on the market with a heat pump – which in turn makes it a decent deal, especially when you consider how stylish and smart it is, inside and out.

Tesla Model 3

The introduction of a heat pump in early 2021 turned Tesla’s most convincing product into an even more compelling one. The Model 3 isn’t perfect, but for most buyers it’s the ideal EV, with a long range, a futuristic-feeling interior and, of course, the big advantage of any Tesla: the company’s supercharger network.

You also get a spacious interior and a huge boot, while equipment levels are high. In addition, if you’re willing to splash out, you can have Tesla’s suite of extremely advanced adaptive cruise, lane-keeping and lane-changing functions.

Hyundai Ioniq 5

Disappointingly, you can’t get a heat pump on our favourite version of our favourite EV – the Kia EV6 Air; it’s only an optional extra on models higher up in the range. But Hyundai’s Ioniq 5, which shares the EV6’s powertrain, offers the option of a heat pump on every model, even the most affordable Premium version, which is why it gets the nod over the Kia in this list.

The Ioniq 5 is no poor relation, though, with eye-catching styling and a terrifically airy interior, as well as sliding rear seats which enhance its versatility.