VW to cut price of heat pump and compensate owners for ID.3 and ID.4.

Deepl translation:
An optional heat pump installed in VW's ID.3 and ID.4 electric cars ensures energy-efficient heating of the interior. This means that less power is required from the battery. However, the technology does not achieve the promised range advantage of up to 30 percent at temperatures as low as -25 degrees Celsius. VW is therefore lowering the price, reports Bild.de and Auto Motor und Sport , among others . In addition, over 50,000 existing customers are compensated.

Compared to a vehicle with a combustion engine, an electric car does not generate enough waste heat from the drive components to heat the interior sufficiently. VW therefore offers a "highly efficient heat pump system" that compresses refrigerant under high pressure. The resulting heat is used to heat the cold air flowing through it. As a result, less energy from the battery is used for the high-voltage heating, and there is a range advantage over electric vehicles without a heat pump.

The 1275 euro expensive equipment significantly reduces the loss of range caused by the air conditioning - especially in winter, because it replaces the electrical heating element with its work, VW advertised on the Internet. In practice, however, the heat pump does not fully implement this.

VW ID.3 heat pump
VW's heat pump system ensures a lower range advantage than promised
Through “customer feedback and internal evaluations” it was found that the actual values deviated “by more than ten percent from the communicated value”, explained VW. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that the simulations before the market launch in 2016 had no real experience. In addition, the brand's new electric cars are much more efficient in everyday life than originally calculated and have thus more or less minimized the calculated range gain from the heat pump.

Efficiency is also heavily dependent on the driving profile, VW continues. The communication has therefore been adapted and in the meantime no indication of percentage range advantages has been given. VW does not want to make specific statements about the efficiency advantages of the heat pump. With a view to comparable systems, Auto Motor und Sport assumes 10 to 20 percent, depending on the driving profile.

In view of the new findings, VW will reduce the price of the heat pump to 990 euros from July 1, 2021. The 56,230 existing customers to date will also benefit from the price reduction and will receive a refund of 285 euros. The bottom line is a little more than 16 million euros in expenditure for the company.

According to information from Bild.d e, VW is working on making the heat pump as effective as promised by means of a software update. However, customers would still need a little patience for this. Both the ID.3 and the ID.4 can be updated "over-the-air" using the cellular network from summer onwards .