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Heat pump or resistive heat

johstacy

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Does anyone know does the Rivian use a Heat Pump or resistive heat for providing heat in the vehicle?
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electruck

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Rivian does not currently use a heat pump but the discussion is not quite as simple as heat pump vs resistive.

https://electricrevs.com/2018/11/29/rivian-the-powertrain-details-you-wont-read-about-elsewhere/

Coolant loops

There is a single overall vehicle water-based liquid coolant system with at least two sub-loops and a grill-mounted radiator and fan, according to Richard Farquhar of Rivian.

A first sub-loop runs through and cools components like the motors and motor inverters. A second sub-loop runs through the battery pack.

Computer-controlled valves and replicated water pumps allow these loops to either operate separately or be joined together in order to exchange heat between the components and possibly the radiator.

For instance, although the battery pack has its own dedicated electric heater it can sometimes be effective and more efficient to share heat from the motors and motor inverters with the battery pack in cooler weather.

The battery pack loop also has a “chiller” connection to the air conditioning system to help cool the pack when it gets too hot. There is also apparently a heat exchange path that allows battery pack heat to help warm the vehicle cabin in addition to or instead of electric resistive heating.

A Rivian patent describes a similar system although it’s unclear how precisely this relates to the actual implementation used in Rivian’s initially announced vehicles.
 

C.R. Rivian

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My 2019 Kia Niro EV (launch edition...guess I'm a sucker for those) has a heat pump. Not sure why Rivian didn't go that route.
 

aw113sgte

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My 2019 Kia Niro EV (launch edition...guess I'm a sucker for those) has a heat pump. Not sure why Rivian didn't go that route.
Complexity increase, also they only work well in a certain temp range. Resistive heater is still needed for very cold temps.
 

Lil'Dave

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There is one coming. Wasn't ready in time for launch of R1's. Hoping for one in 2023 (but highly doubtful). I would guess it will be introduced in the R2's.

MY heat pump works great in cold temps (we have had it work in -20).
 

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johstacy

johstacy

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There is one coming. Wasn't ready in time for launch of R1's. Hoping for one in 2023 (but highly doubtful). I would guess it will be introduced in the R2's.

MY heat pump works great in cold temps (we have had it work in -20).

Heat pumps work great in very cold temps usually if they have a resistive component to them that allows them to defrost there coils when needed.
 

zefram47

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Complexity increase, also they only work well in a certain temp range. Resistive heater is still needed for very cold temps.
That's not entirely accurate. Yes, heat pump is only effective down to a certain temperature, but modern tech has made it much wider. Even down to nearly -20F the Tesla heat pump appears to be superior from their PTC/resistive heater.

 

crashmtb

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That's not entirely accurate. Yes, heat pump is only effective down to a certain temperature, but modern tech has made it much wider. Even down to nearly -20F the Tesla heat pump appears to be superior from their PTC/resistive heater.

heat pumps really fall off a cliff after about -20.

This is especially true with air source heatpumps for buildings.
 

zefram47

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heat pumps really fall off a cliff after about -20.

This is especially true with air source heatpumps for buildings.
Thankfully that's about the lowest I've seen in Colorado, but I'm sure you see far lower in a typical winter.
 

aw113sgte

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That's not entirely accurate. Yes, heat pump is only effective down to a certain temperature, but modern tech has made it much wider. Even down to nearly -20F the Tesla heat pump appears to be superior from their PTC/resistive heater.

Pretty impressive, last time I was looking into them it was for my house, they stopped working around 20-30
 

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joelster

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Pretty impressive, last time I was looking into them it was for my house, they stopped working around 20-30
I know my home heat pump was barely working below 20 degrees the other day. My first winter with it and I was surprised.
 

COdogman

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They have drastically improved on home heat pump technology in the last few years, to the point where they are effective in all but the coldest winter climates. They are also now more cost effective than regular HVAC with incentives, not to mention better for the environment.

It is a little surprising Rivian didn’t go that route from the start.
 

emoore

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They have drastically improved on home heat pump technology in the last few years, to the point where they are effective in all but the coldest winter climates. They are also now more cost effective than regular HVAC with incentives, not to mention better for the environment.

It is a little surprising Rivian didn’t go that route from the start.
Yep I agree. Getting a HP installed for my house next week.
 

electruck

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That's not entirely accurate. Yes, heat pump is only effective down to a certain temperature, but modern tech has made it much wider. Even down to nearly -20F the Tesla heat pump appears to be superior from their PTC/resistive heater.

Plenty of folks responding to that video saying they see much better performance from their Tesla's ptc than reflected in the video.
 
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Zoidz

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heat pumps really fall off a cliff after about -20.

This is especially true with air source heatpumps for buildings.
For that reason I went with a closed loop vertical well geothermal heat pump when I built my house 8 years ago. It’s always a balmy 54 degrees 100 feet underground winter or summer in my area. It’s more expensive to install but the 30% tax credit made it a wash.
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