The recently introduced Rivian R2 will use a heat pump to improve efficiency in cold weather, which should be beneficial to people living in Northern North America and Europe.

discovered a great deal about the R2 during its last week’s reveal, and when lingering around following the ceremony, I discovered even more hidden details about the vehicle. However, as it happens, the car still has a few surprises to reveal.

RJ Scaringe, the CEO of Rivian, was asked on Twitter today if the R2 would contain a heat pump. He responded with a straightforward “Yes.”

Furthermore, the query “Does the R2 platform have a heat pump?” raises the possibility that this technology will also be present in the R3, which will be constructed on the same platform as the R2.

Like many EVs, Rivian’s latest models, the R1T and R1S, rely on resistive heating to keep the cabin warm rather than a heat pump.

Resistive heating produces waste heat by passing an electric charge through a coil of wire that is extremely resistive. Although this is a good way to quickly heat a cabin (as opposed to waiting for the engine to warm up like with gas automobiles), it also requires a lot of energy.

On the other hand, a heat pump transfers heat from one location to another. It can be up to three or four times more efficient than resistive heating in bringing latent heat from the outside air inside the cabin.

As a result, a car with a heat pump will have a greater winter range than one with resistive heating as it requires less battery power to run the heater in cold weather.

Due to the fact that Europe experiences colder weather than the US regions where electric vehicles are most common (such as California), heat pumps have become a popular option for cars geared toward the continent. This is especially important because the R2 marks Rivian’s arrival on the European market, and the vehicle has already undergone some more EU-focused redesigns (such as shifting the charging connection to the passenger side, which is more convenient for charging on the street).

The colder regions of the US and Canada are also excellent uses for heat pumps.

In line with their tagline, “Keep the world adventurous forever,” Rivian’s cars are highly well-liked by the “adventure” population. They are therefore frequently used in snow and ice situations, as evidenced by the video of a Rivian pulling a huge truck out of a ditch during a winter in Utah.

It hasn’t been too hard to use a little bit more energy on a resistive heater because of the R1’s incredibly enormous battery. However, this modification raises the question of whether a heat pump will also eventually be included in the R1.