One of the challenges of heating the cabin of your EV when you’re driving in cold weather is the loss of driving range that comes with using the components of the vehicle to make you comfortable during your drive. The Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corporation have revealed the details of their innovative heat pump system for EV models that were first seen in the Kia Soul EV in 2014.
This system allows you to heat the cabin of your vehicle without significantly affecting the range of the vehicle during your drive.
Maximize Your Range in Low Temperatures
If you live in an area where temperatures can drop to or below freezing for days or weeks at a time, it could get old to lose much of your EV driving range to heat the cabin of your vehicle. The Hyundai and Kia heat pump maximizes the distance you can drive by scavenging waste and heat to warm the cabin. This system will make it easy for you to drive farther in cold weather without taking very much of the range away from the batteries during your drive. This system allows you to have the best of what you want when the weather is cold.
How Does this Heat Pump System Work?
The Hyundai and Kia heat pump technology allows the heating of the cabin to be done using recycled additional waste heat from power electric modules (i.e. drive motors, on-board chargers, and inverters) along with heat from the battery pack and slow charger. These components give the heat needed to vaporize refrigerant from liquid to gas form. High-pressure gas is then discharged from the compressor and forced into the condenser to be converted back into a liquid that generates additional heat and energy. This heat is used to warm the cabin without affecting the range of the battery pack.
Gradual Refinement of the Hyundai and Kia System
Even though this heat pump system was introduced in 2014, its been gradually refined to be better than when it was first offered. Testing has been completed in Northern Sweden where the temperatures can reach well below freezing and often below zero degrees on either temperature scale. This testing makes it easy to know you’re going to have a heat pump system in your Hyundai or Kia EV model that will ensure you have the warmth you want when you’re in the cabin.
Kia and Hyundai have Won Awards
The new heat pump system developed by Hyundai and Kia has won the Norwegian Automotive Federation’s real-range validation test with the Kona Electric. This award is the result of a comparison of 20 different EVs in cold and warm weather conditions to give you the most consistent driving range and charging performance. The Kona Electric took first place in the cold and in severe cold weather tests. If you choose one of the Kia or Hyundai hybrids and electric models, you’ll have this new heat pump system to make sure you can have a warm and toasty cabin when you drive in cold weather.
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