Heat pump in US Kona Electric?

Bill Carter

Bill Carter

Member
Hi, my Kona is just a month old. I have combed through the first three pages of the forum to see if anyone has asked whether the 2020 US models come equipped with a heat pump. It appears that they are part of the Canadian package as a matter of course and owners there are quite pleased to have them. I'm in Maine, where having one would make sense, but I've seen no reference to one in the manuals or in the car itself.
 
I don't remember what the thread was but recently someone posted information that indicated the US models still do not have heat pumps. It is unfortunate. I live in MA and winter cold really cuts my range. Enough so that I'd have been happy to pay additional money for the option of having the heat pump.
 
Inclusion of the heat pump in global markets seems to be random. I would imagine the people that make these choices understand marketing better than the technical pros and cons of this option.
I wouldn't have bought a Kona if it had not been so equipped in NZ, especially as my base model does not have the heated seats.
 
Bill Carter said:
Hi, my Kona is just a month old. I have combed through the first three pages of the forum to see if anyone has asked whether the 2020 US models come equipped with a heat pump. It appears that they are part of the Canadian package as a matter of course and owners there are quite pleased to have them. I'm in Maine, where having one would make sense, but I've seen no reference to one in the manuals or in the car itself.
Click to expand...

The 2019 didn't have a heat pump in the US, and I'm pretty sure the 2020 doesn't either. I'm pretty sure you would have easily found it if they did. All I can see added is a battery warmer for certain trims.
https://www.caranddriver.com/hyundai/kona-electric
https://insideevs.com/news/373932/2020-hyundai-kona-electric-battery-warmer/
 
My understanding is that the US market added a battery heater in the top two trims, but not heat pump.

We're in Maine, and we bought a 2019 because we decided the battery heater wasn't worth the few thousand extra plus the wait for a 2020, and that's been a good choice for us. We get over 200 miles at highway speeds, using heat, and we've had good charging speeds without the battery heater option when charging mid trip (I think the high speed driving keeps the battery temp up where it will accept fast charging rates.)

Things like a heat pump that would increase our range would of course be nice, but I have to say, the range on this car is so high already that for our purposes it's not a big deal, even during winter in Maine.
 
I'm curious. how much additional range can one expect with a heat pump? I suspect if you were to graph the answer (with y-axis being additional range and x-axis being outside temperature) the answer would be a line/curve with a negative slope as the outside temperature increases.
 
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