Volkswagen currently unable to install heat pumps in e-cars

Due to the ongoing semiconductor shortage, Volkswagen is currently unable to install heat pumps in its ID division electric cars. The German automaker has now officially confirmed this.

Semiconductor shortage: Volkswagen lacks heat pumps

As a result of the ongoing semiconductor crisis, the Volkswagen Group is short of materials for heat pumps, the German automaker has now confirmed to the Electrive.net website.

One observes the situation very exactly and hopes to be able to take up the heat pump soon again into the own offer, explains Volkswagen on demand. This was preceded by reports from Canada in which the VW Group is delivering the Audi Q4 e-tron and the VW ID.4 without a heat pump until further notice.

In the meantime, thanks to Volkswagen’s response, it is clear that the shortage does not affect Canada alone, but that the heat pump is in short supply worldwide. Moreover, not only the ID.4 is affected, but all ID. electric cars from Volkswagen. It is unclear whether the models of other manufacturers such as Audi are also affected – here the magazine has not yet received a response.

In the respective vehicle configurators, however, the manufacturers point out that there could well be longer delivery times for certain optional extras due to global supply bottlenecks. At VW, the heat pump has currently disappeared completely from the configurator.

In Canada, at least buyers of the Audi Q4 e-tron receive a credit as compensation, since the heat pump is part of the standard equipment there – unlike in VW models. It is currently unclear how the Volkswagen Group intends to proceed in this country.

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Semiconductor shortage continues to take hold

The heat pump of an electric car is responsible for providing heating or cooling in the interior. Meanwhile, the semiconductor shortage and the accompanying chip crisis continues to have a firm grip on the automotive industry, regularly causing production stops or delays in the delivery of vehicles from different manufacturers.

The main reason, of course, was the COVID-19 pandemic, due to which many production facilities of semiconductors and other parts had to stop working due to lockdowns.

In December 2022, the EU and the U.S. agreed on subsidies to get their own semiconductor manufacturing operations up and running as quickly as possible. The EU Chips Act, for example, promotes the construction of a chip factory by Intel in Magdeburg, while various manufacturing plants are also to be built in the USA.