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I'm out in Downers Grove. I didn't wake up till 9am lol, not sure how cold it was earlier than that. Windchill was worse.
I'll be honest, the main reason I'm going R1T over the Taycan because of my budget. The most impressive thing about the Taycan isn't its 0-60 or charge times, its how fast the price balloons with just a few a few options.
That must be some premium one of a kind heat pump you are describing there lol Heat pumps become crap below 40, the good ones, can go to about 25. I haven't really seen any compact heatpump that operates below that limit, let alone being efficient.
I am like 5 minutes south of you, but yeah around 9am things were easier lol At 6am it was brutal!
My minimum acceptable build on the Taycan is 137K... wtf! And that's with stock paint, interior and wheels!
Modern air source heat pumps(think ductless mini split) will work ok down to -25
If the resistive heater pulls 4kw peak, that's about 3% an hour at full blast constantly. I'm more worried about being able to get the battery itself preconditioned prior to leaving in the cold than I am heating the cabin with a heater. And getting the battery to precondition for DCFC.
Oh, I think its not just the best EV, but one of the best vehicles around. I drove the base RWD, and its fantastic. It feels more like a 911 in Panamera clothing, but if I am spending that much money (If I really want to buy one, It will be around 180k), it would have to be an Aston Martin.Yes, but it is one of those rare vehicles that checks just about every box you want. It drives better than 99% of vehicles on the road, it charges faster than all but one EV, and it is flexible enough of a vehicle to be a great road trip car or a daily driver.
Is it perfect? Absolutely not, but after two Model S', a Model X, and an Audi e-Tron, it is the best EV I have ever driven.
I love my Taycan, but I also have an R1T on order since it balances out the Taycan for being able to go off road and enjoying more remote places in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
But those aren't small. I have a Mitsubishi unit in one of my offices, rated to -25, but it really struggles around -10. But that is neat if they could package something similar and make it more portable! As far as I could tell from the model 3, if you did not precondition your battery before you leave ( in Chicago weather ) it will almost never get up there because the heat pump has to work on both. The cabin wasn't too bad, but the battery never got to full potential even though we drove about 45 minutes.
Prezactly!
As efficient as heatpumps are, they don't work very well, and take a long time to bring temps up when working in low temps. in residential applications they work great, they have practically an unlimited source of electricity, they can literally run all day and night to bring up and maintain temperatures. In an EV, electricity is limited, so if it can't heat up fast enough when needed, it's useless. That being said, in smaller battery packs and milder conditions they could work better, but probably due to the size of the battery Rivian is using, and the heat demand needed to bring all those cells up to temp quickly it probably isn't the most efficient way to go. Also of all people working at Rivian RJ should be well educated based on his degree with thermal dynamics and heat pumps, so they probably chose the right option. Just my opinion and experience from working with heat pumps though.
