New study reveals major breakthrough for electric vehicles — here's what you need to know before buying

Electric vehicles are getting better at handling cold temperatures, thanks to the same hyper-efficient technology that's transforming home heating and cooling: heat pumps. 

Heat pumps installed in many EV models have been quietly improving the ability of these vehicles to sustain battery life and range in the cold, The Washington Post reported.

This phenomenon, backed by research from the EV marketplace and battery-performance platform Recurrent, suggests that newer models of electric vehicles are addressing one big concern people have with EVs: that performance can suffer when the thermometer drops.

It's no myth that battery-powered cars lose efficiency in cold conditions. In fact, all cars do, as Recurrent pointed out. It's a special concern for EVs because they then travel less before needing a charge. Recurrent's recent study involved 20 popular models and 18,000 vehicles. At freezing temperatures, the EVs retained 80% of their ranges, though some did better than others.

Many of the models that fared best are recent, heat-pump-equipped EVs. (Here's the list.) And there's evidence that heat pumps make a big difference. 

In a 2024 edition of the report, Recurrent noted that the range reduction at 32 degrees Fahrenheit without a heat pump can be up to 25%, or 50 miles, but with a heat pump it's only 5.9%, or 11 miles. Under these conditions, a heat pump EV would lose only about a fifth of the range of a conventionally heated one, as Recurrent indicated.

EVs lose efficiency in cold weather because of two main factors. First, chemical reactions in the batteries slow down. Second, people tend to use car heaters more — and this drains batteries in EVs (which must use electric heat because their efficient engines don't have the waste heat that gas cars do). The effects on an EV's expected range are temporary and vanish when the temperature rises again. Still, it's inconvenient when your car can't go as far because it's cold.

A heat pump improves the situation by heating a car's passenger cabin more efficiently than the electric-resistance heaters used in older EVs. Vehicle heat pumps are similar to home heat pumps in that they transfer heat rather than burn a fuel.

Short of having a vehicle heat pump, one step any EV owner can take is to precondition the vehicle by heating up the cabin with the car still plugged in. This reduces the impact on range while driving.

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Heat pumps don't totally solve the problem EVs face with cold weather. The Post reported that, "in the coldest regions, where temperatures regularly drop below 15 degrees Fahrenheit, drivers won't see as much benefit because heat pumps don't work well at those extremes." (It should be noted that home heat pumps have improved at handling very cold temperatures.)

Also, looking at the Recurrent findings in detail, EVs with heat pumps didn't always hold up their winter range better than EVs without them — but they did better at this on average.

Overall, the addition of a heat pump to an electric vehicle can make an already highly efficient machine that much more effective. Which should be positive news for car buyers, especially considering that other EV benefits include saving money on fuel and maintenance costs and avoiding the tailpipe pollution of fuel-burning cars.

Per the Post, Greg Brannon, director of automotive engineering at AAA, said heat pumps pave the way for more people to drive electric cars in moderately cold places.

And Recurrent head of growth and research Andy Garberson told the outlet, "The concerns for EV drivers around winter weather are quickly decreasing."

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