GM has released new details on the heat pump that will come standard in its future Ultium electric vehicles.
The heat pump, referred to by GM as an energy recovery system, will be able to capture heat being produced by the vehicle’s battery pack and use it to heat the vehicle’s cabin. The pump can also capture and use humidity from both inside and outside the vehicle, including body heat from passengers, as well as the heat produced by the vehicle’s power electronics and other related electronic components.
By repurposing heat produced by the vehicle, the Ultium energy recovery system will be able to reduce the vehicle’s reliance on battery power to heat the cabin. This leaves more energy stored in the battery for driving, increasing the vehicle’s range by up to 10 percent in real-world driving scenarios, GM estimates. This technology will also enable Ultium vehicles to charge more efficiently by “preconditioning,” or warming up the batteries before charging.
GM Ultium Drive motors and an Ultium battery pack
The only production GM vehicle that features Ultium energy recovery at the moment is the 2022 GMC Hummer EV Pickup, however a heat pump will come standard on all future GM EVs that use its Ultium battery system and Ultium Drive electric motors. The Hummer EV’s impressive Watts to Freedom mode would not be possible without this technology, as the truck’s battery must first be warmed, or “pre-conditioned,” before unleashing the powertrain’s full 1,000 horsepower.
GM EV1
GM has filed a total of 11 patents for the Ultium energy recovery system so far. The design of the system traces its roots back to the GM EV1, the automaker claims, with GM engineers developing a more rudimentary heat pump system for that vehicle way back in the 1990s. The GM EV1’s ‘Heat Pump Climate’, as the standard feature was referred to, was the first heat pump-enabled vehicle climate control system in a production vehicle.
Subscribe to GM Authority for more GM technology news, GM electric vehicle news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
Does that mean I can get one for under? $57,000 or is this still a GM wet dream?
No this will cost an extra 2k$. I’m surprised this hasn’t happened sooner however. Heat pumps are way more efficient than coils.
Several years ago I was driving a Ford Taurus on the Montana / Canada highline near Wolf Point, Montana. It was in January, 40 below zero. I was driving at around 70 mph for a couple of hours. The Taurus cabin blower was on full setting as well as the cabin heat setting. The car cabin heater could not keep the cabin even slightly warm. And this was with an IC engine operating for a couple of hours at a high ram.
I wish those in arctic climates well with an EV. Wonder if all the electrics after five years of use in artic and tropical climates will still work. ??? These EV’s and Tesla’s seem to be designed for a Southern California climate. That’s where GM’s EV1 was tried and tested.
the key to driving in weather this cold is to block the airflow through the radiator. -40 air will suck all the heat from the radiator and close the thermostat, which effectively shuts the warm coolant from getting to the heater core.
Dear Old Farm Boy, You can get a Kia EV6 Wind AWD which comes with a heat pump for $50,900 right now.
Not much for under $57k anymore.
Unless you want the Silverado WT or Sierra Pro 4×4 Reg Cab extended bed no. Or opt for a cheap Acadia.
Nice keep up the good work on EV’s GM! And David an ICE engine does capture heat from the engine like a heat pump but a lot of ICE heat gets wasted it’s it’s own separate unit on ICE vehicles so the engine heat on ICE is wasted I wish ICE cars would come with a heat pump set up imagine all that heat to heat the cabin you could probably save a little ⛽ fuel. I think David that if the EV1 could stand the cold back in the Ancient 1990’s that a modern EV will do just fine in the cold.
That’s nice, Kia and Hyundai already have a heat pump in their EV6 GT and Ionic 5 Limited models respectively. Also, both the EV6 Wind RWD and Ionic 5 SEL RWD and Ionic 5 Limited RWD get over 300 miles of range! And they are all available to purchase right now. We test drove a Kia EV6 Wind RWD 3 weeks ago and bought it off the lot right away. It’s fantastic! They can’t keep up with the demand for these EVs. GM seems like it’s always behind the times now.
It’s funny that people on here are saying that GM is behind the times but Kia and Hyundai just started introducing EVs recently and Kia is behind GM. Also, if anyone read carefully on the article, the Saturn EV1 had a heat pump and the EV1 was leased only for California consumer market which dated back in the ’90s so it is Kia and Hyundai who are behind, not GM.
Johnls_39 but Kia and Hyundai can do no wrong they are the darling of the media… But do a Google search and see all the problems that their cars have… ICE Engines that catch on fire, electrical problems, brake fluid leaking, a GREAT WARRANTY that does NOT transfer to the second owner even if the car is under the mileage of said warranty! Haters I love them I have owned five GM vehicles with only minor problems and maintenance and this is what I will continue to buy!
Hello David Alan Murray, I suspect that you were driving the 4 cylinder Taurus and your right they don’t generate a lot of heat.
I had one of these Taurus cars and found that when the weather was in the 40-45 below range at city speeds they could just generate enough heat to keep the car sort of WARM. However, had you have been driving the V6 model you would have found that they can keep you comfortably WARM at both city or highway speeds. The problem with the 4 cylinder engine is that they are small fuel efficient engines that don’t consume enough fuel to generate an excess of heat.
So the problem is not the fact of an ICE engine not being able to keep the car warm but that the engine is too small to generate enough heat to keep a car warm in these extreme temperatures.
Thanks Oldgmer:
Your analysis is right on. Gosh, that Taurus with it’s biokenetic design, which was deemed the ” flying potato “, was a huge winner for Ford.
Yes, small liter sized garden tractor engines put in cars have a challenge doing a dual function in extreme cold driving conditions.
I had a Chevy Track earlier this year and you could lift the engine out by yourself easy peasy.