Best Heat Pump Buying Guide

Size (Capacity)
A heat pump that&#;s too small for your needs will struggle to keep your home comfortable. On the other hand, an oversized unit will cost more, and if it isn&#;t a variable-speed model, it will cycle on and off more often than it should. This decreases efficiency, stresses components, and leaves your home less comfortable.

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A heat pump&#;s cooling capacity is measured in British thermal units per hour (Btu/hr.). Btu/hr. can also be expressed in &#;tons,&#; with 1 ton equaling 12,000 Btu/hr. To ensure that your heat pump is sized correctly, make sure your contractor does a load calculation based on a recognized method, such as the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) Manual J. The calculations should be done after any air-sealing or insulation upgrades are made to your home and should be done whether you&#;re replacing a unit or installing a new system.

One nuance to consider: If you&#;re planning to keep a backup heating system alongside your heat pump, consider getting an undersized heat pump. A contractor can help you figure out whether this makes sense in your home.

Note that heat pumps need far less capacity to heat a space than a furnace or boiler would because they&#;re much more energy-efficient. For example, if your home needed a 100,000-Btu/hr. furnace, it may need only a 36,000-Btu/hr. heat pump.

Compressor Type
The compressor is the heart of a heat pump&#;it&#;s the part that actually pumps the heat. Basic heat pumps have a single-speed compressor. It&#;s either on or off. This system works well enough, but the temperature and relative humidity in your home will swing up and down with the cycles. Some compressors have two speeds, which mitigates the swings, but they&#;re still present.

The gold standard is a variable-speed compressor. It&#;s designed to run almost constantly, adjusting itself over time to deliver only as much heating or cooling as it takes to keep your home comfortable. It&#;s also much better at keeping relative humidity under control than single-speed models are.

Variable-speed compressors not only keep your home more comfortable but also are more energy-efficient. It may seem counterintuitive, but it takes much less energy to move a tiny bit of heat all the time than to move a lot of heat quickly.

Efficiency
Some heat pumps use less energy than others to deliver the same level of comfort. In cooling mode, efficiency is commonly expressed as the seasonal energy-efficiency rating, or SEER. The higher the SEER, the greater the efficiency. In heating mode, the measurement used is the heating seasonal performance factor, or HSPF. Again, the higher the number, the more energy-efficient the unit.

As of January , the Department of Energy adopted new testing methods for energy efficiency, replacing the SEER and HSPF values with SEER2 and HSPF2, while also increasing efficiency standards.

Heat pumps with higher SEER/SEER2 and HSPF/HSPF2 ratings tend to cost more, but they&#;ll often pay for themselves over time through lower energy costs, and they may be eligible for better tax incentives or rebates than less efficient models. Heat pumps with higher SEER ratings also tend to have higher HSPF ratings, though there&#;s no direct relationship between the two. If you live in a warm climate, pay closer attention to the SEER. In cold climates, look for a higher HSPF.

Climate Performance
If you live in a region with cold winters, you&#;ll need to either pick a heat pump that&#;s rated to work well in the lowest temperatures that your region regularly experiences or have a secondary heating system to back up your heat pump.

All air-source heat pumps struggle to perform as temperatures drop; the space they can effectively heat shrinks and they don&#;t work as efficiently. The threshold for poor performance varies from model to model. Some heat pumps falter at 25° F, others at 17° F or lower.

Models marketed as cold-climate heat pumps can work to their full potential all the way down to 5° F and may deliver some heat even down to -20° F or lower. The best course is to work with a qualified local contractor who knows what kind of equipment works well in your area.

If you live in an area where the temperature rarely or never drops below freezing (32° F), a basic heat pump can handle the bulk of your heating and cooling needs. You can keep a simple electrical-resistance backup system (sometimes built into the heat pump itself) for unusual cold snaps.

Noise
Manufacturers publish the noise levels of their products in the user manual and often on their websites. They tend to include noise estimates across a variety of outdoor temperatures and fan speeds, measured in decibels. A lower rating is better, especially if the heat pump will be installed near a bedroom window.

Reliability
In our member survey, heat pumps from eight brands were judged highly reliable, but only two of them also got top marks for owner satisfaction. Consumer Reports members can see the predicted reliability and owner satisfaction ratings for 29 brands of heat pumps, based on data that CR members have shared about 10,158 heat pumps they bought new and installed in their own homes between and . Those findings are summarized in our guide to the Most and Least Reliable Heat Pumps.

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Electric Car Range in Cold Weather

With the winter fully upon us in some parts of the country, we&#;re seeing more questions from potential electric car owners about how well popular electric car models perform in the winter &#; and specifically, how much range they lose in cold temperatures. Like gasoline cars, electric vehicles don&#;t go as far on a full &#;tank&#; of electrons as they do in ideal conditions. But EVs tend to lose more range in the winter &#; ironically because they are so much more efficient.

While a gasoline engine generates a lot of residual heat that can be used to warm the cabin in cold temperatures, electric cars have to actively heat the cabin and its occupants, drawing power from their batteries to do so. Still, according to a new study from industry data aggregator Recurrent Auto, some electric vehicles perform better in the winter than others &#; and some EVs can lose half their range when the temperature drops below freezing.

How Do I Choose the Best EV for Winter?

If you are shopping for an electric car, there are a number of features you should be looking for to minimize how much range you will lose in cold temperatures. In fact, we recently published a whole article about finding the best EV for winter driving conditions. If you&#;re regularly going to be driving your EV in cold weather, keep an eye out for the following:

• Heat pump: While all EVs have a resistive heater, which simply uses electricity to pass current through an electric conductor to generate heat, many electric cars have a more efficient heat pump. Heat pumps work like an air conditioner in reverse, to move heat gathered from both within and outside the vehicle and boosting its temperature. They can save up to 8 kW of consumption &#; significantly improving range.
• Heated seats and steering wheel: An even more efficient way of getting warm in a car is to warm your body instead of the air in the cabin. Heated seats and a heated steering wheel will help you feel more comfortable while reducing the burden on an electric car&#;s heating system.
• Pre-heating and pre-cooling: You can gain a lot of range by having the vehicle at your desired temperature before you drive off. Using the pre-heating feature lets you program your desired departure time; your EV heats the cabin to the desired temperature while it&#;s still plugged in. This has two benefits: you get into a warm car, and you don&#;t need to use battery power on the go to warm the cabin up.
• Pre-conditioning: Batteries charge faster when they are at their optimum operating temperature. Linked to your vehicle&#;s navigation system, the pre-conditioning feature warms up the battery in anticipation of a charging session, so you spend less time plugged in.

These features are key drivers of how much range electric cars are able to retain in sub-zero conditions. Let&#;s take a look at Recurrent&#;s findings to see how EVs perform in the winter, from worst to best.

Tesla Winter Range

Popular Tesla models scored the worst in terms of range retention in the winter. The company&#;s earliest models, the Model S sedan and the Model X large crossover, lost more than half of their range at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to their original EPA range estimates. The best-selling Model Y crossover didn&#;t fare any better, while the Model 3 sedan achieved just half of its EPA range estimate at 32 degrees.

• Tesla Model S: 45 percent of original EPA estimated range
• Tesla Model X: 48 percent of original EPA estimated range
• Tesla Model Y: 48 percent of original EPA estimated range
• Tesla Model 3: 50 percent of original EPA estimated range

One thing worth noting in the findings is that Model S and Model X vehicles from the model year onwards came with a heat pump &#; which significantly improved their performance in winter conditions. All Model Y versions come with a heat pump, but still failed to achieve great scores. On the other hand, Tesla models all have the ability to pre-heat the cabin while plugged in, through the convenient Tesla app.

Nissan Leaf Winter Range

One of the original EVs on the market, the Nissan Leaf performed significantly better, according to Reccurent&#;s data, than any of the Tesla models, through it still lost over a third of its range at 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius). On average, Leafs retained 62 percent of their EPA range estimate. The Leaf does not come equipped with a heat pump, and Nissan even recommends that you should not store the Leaf below -13 Fahrenheit for over a week, as the battery risks freezing.

Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning Winter Range

Both the Ford Mustang Mach-E and the Ford F-150 Lightning were not stellar performers in winter weather. The Mach-E achieved 63 percent of its original EPA estimated range at 32 Fahrenheit, while the Lightning did slightly better, at 64 percent. If you are planning on using your F-150 Lightning for towing, especially in the winter, you will want to plan ahead, as a trailer will impact the range of the Lightning even more.

For most trim levels, these two Fords have all of the features you&#;d look for in a winter EV, including all-wheel drive, heated seats and steering wheel, and programmable departure times for pre-heating. The one thing it&#;s missing from both the Mach-E and the Lightning is a heat pump &#; which would really help them go further on a charge in the cold. Instead, both the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning have to rely on resistive heating, which draws a lot of battery power as the temperature drops.

Volkswagen ID.4 Winter Range

The popular Volkswagen ID.4 crossover didn&#;t fare much better than the two popular Ford models, according to the data from Recurrent. While it is an efficient runner, and has heated seats and steering wheel as well as pre-heating and pre-conditioning, the lack of a heat pump hurt its cold-weather performance. At 32 degrees, you can expect the ID.4 to achieve 65 percent of its EPA-estimated range. However, there is good news if you are shopping for a new ID.4; models have increased range, which should help offset a little bit of that cold-weather pain.

Chevrolet Bolt Winter Range

We&#;ve often called the Chevrolet Bolt our favorite value EV. On a remarkably compact footprint, the Bolt has a spacious interior, plenty of tech, good handling, and impressive EPA-estimated range &#; over 250 miles is amazing for such a compact package. However, in the winter, it doesn&#;t fare so well; Recurrent says that the Bolt will achieve just 68 percent of its original EPA estimate at 32 degrees. Hopefully the next-generation Bolt, due in , will perform better.

Audi E-Tron Winter Range

To see the effect that a standard-fit heat pump has, just look at the results for the Audi e-tron crossover, which retains 80 percent of its original EPA estimated range in freezing temperatures &#; way better than the best non-heat pump vehicle. Not only does this luxurious Audi have a heat pump, but it has all of the other features you&#;d want to make winter driving convenient and comfortable. Refreshed in , and now sold as the Q8 e-tron, the big Audi crossover now has a larger battery and optimized software to deliver even more range and efficiency in all conditions.

Hyundai Kona Winter Range

The Hyundai Kona is one of the best-performing EVs on the market in terms of range retention in the winter. Equipped with a heat pump, pre-conditioning, pre-heating, and seat heaters, it offers drivers a great list of features in a maneuverable, compact package &#; and one that preserves 84 percent of its original EPA-estimated range. The all-new Kona Electric, which is just starting to hit American streets, should perform even better.

Hyundai Ioniq 5 Winter Range

A larger, more powerful, more versatile, and longer-range crossover than the Kona, the Ioniq 5 was built from the ground up as an EV, on a dedicated platform including all of the latest technology. With its ultra-long wheelbase, large battery, heat pump, available all-wheel drive, heated seats and wheel, and all of the pre-programmability you could want, the Ioniq 5 retains an amazing 97 percent of its original EPA-estimated range at freezing &#; which is better than many EVs perform in ideal conditions. That, plus its ultra-fast charging and 800-volt architecture, makes it one of our favorite, and most-recommended EVs.

Jaguar i-Pace Winter Range

Tied for first place with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 is the Jaguar i-Pace &#; one of the original, and still best-performing luxury electric crossovers. The i-Pace is beautiful, it&#;s fast, and it has all of the heated goodies as well as pre-conditioning and pre-heating functions to make life more convenient. It too retains 97 percent of its original EPA range estimate at 32 degrees.

Which EV Should I Buy for Winter Driving?

To generate its reports, Recurrent gathered real-life data from over 18,000 vehicles equipped with its software. In addition to tracking how vehicles performed compared to their EPA range estimates, the firm also tracked how they performed compared to the estimates displayed on their dashboards at different temperatures. You can find their full study here.

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