EDITORIAL: EV, give me heat!

Cabin heating and cooling, and its negative impact on vehicle efficiency and range, are among the challenges still to be resolved in battery-electric vehicles (EVs). For drivers and passengers, interior comfort - being warm when it's cold and cool when it's hot outside - simply is expected of any vehicle, regardless of its tailpipe-emissions profile. Pushing the HVAC button in an EV, though, elicits second thoughts such as, “If I turn on the heat, will I have enough range to get home?”

Air-conditioning use in hot ambient temperatures typically causes a modest loss of EV driving range. But it's the 30-40% range reduction in cold weather when the cabin heater is deployed that continues to challenge EVs' ability to supplant ICE-powered vehicles, according to veteran SAE Media contributor Paul Weissler, an HVAC tech expert who sits on SAE's standards committee. That kind of hit to an electric delivery van rated at 125-150-miles' (201-241-km) range, for example, would leave it with only 75-90 miles (120-144-km) of operation before charging is needed. The problem is exacerbated as the mercury falls.