Anyway, from its spec sheet it says it can actually use up to 0.6L/h at full load:
https://www.webasto-comfort.com/fileadmin/webasto__media/web...
But you're right, without any insulation, the moving vehicle will lose heat much faster. The room has terrible insulation but at least it has bare brick for the bottom 3 feet which probably retains a lot of the heat. I suspect with proper insulation your fuel usage would be drastically reduced.
Isn’t this highly dependent on the outside temperature?
However at 0°C/32°F this bumps to 3.5-3.8, so you'd be getting much closer to the quoted 2000W.
If you're operating in -20°C or below for much of the year a heat pump might not be the best option, but even in Yellowknife that's only three months of the year and it's still twice the heat per kW.
I guess it's a concern if you live in Norilsk?
I'm pretty these will never be sold in the US, unfortunately.
We own a Volkswagen e-Up, it's exactly like this. We love it too, it's just such a great little car, you can easily get 150 miles out of its 32kWh battery and it fits everything, has no touchscreen, good old buttons for the climate controls and even proper analogue gauges for speed and battery level. I will own it until it falls apart.
>>I also think it would make a lot more sense to have an auxiliary diesel heating system.
I honestly doubt that anyone would like the "convenience" of having to fill up the tank for it with diesel every now and then.
>>and likely generate less carbon emissions
CO2 - yes. But these heaters(and devices like Webasto etc) are hugely polluting because unlike the exhaust from your engine their exhaust isn't filtered or treated in any way, all the bad stuff goes directly outside.
>>A gallon of diesel would last for months if it was just used for heating the cabin
No, it wouldn't - I own two cars with a webasto and they both use about 0.4L of fuel for hour of operation, it's not much but it's not insignificant.
Besides, this is a fixed problem - just use a heatpump instead of a resistive heater. A 500W heatpump will produce as much heat as a 2000W resistive heater.