Semiconductor shortages have impacted all automakers over the last few years, forcing some to ship cars without certain features. The latest to face this dilemma is Audi, which is no longer including heat pumps in their Q4 e-tron.
In an email sent this week to Canadian Q4 e-tron reservation holders, a copy of which was shared with Drive Tesla, Audi says that heat pumps will be eliminated from production beginning in February 2023. All Q4 e-trons built after this date will instead have resistive heaters.
To compensate new owners for the removal, Audi says they will provide a $1,000 credit for any Q4 e-tron built without a heat pump.
Unfortunately Audi has no idea when heat pumps will be added back to their production lines, explaining in the email that the change is for an “indeterminate period.”
Potential owners will obviously have questions about what this change will mean for them, particularly around how their Q4 e-tron will perform with a resistive heater compared to a heat pump in a cold Canadian winter. Audi attempts to preemptively answer these questions in the email, saying that the official range estimate from Natural Resources Canada (380km/236 miles) will be the same with or without a heat pump. The automaker goes on to say however that the “benefits of a heat pump are reduced as temperatures drop or at higher speeds.”
If you have a Q4 e-tron on order, will you be proceeding with your purchase, or is a $1,000 credit enough compensation? Let us know in the comments below.
Here is a full copy of the email. Thanks to Shane for sending this in.
I regret to inform you that due to continuing semiconductor supply constraints, for an indeterminate period beginning with production February 2023, all Q4 e-tron’s will be built without heat pumps. A credit of $1,000 will be applied to all Q4’s built without this feature.
How does this affect my range and/or performance?
