Bosch dampens expectations for more affordable heat pump costs
Bosch's CEO, Stefan Hartung, isn't thinking too highly about significant price reductions for heat pumps. Despite a drop in demand for these devices, he cautioned, "We shouldn't expect them to get cheaper any time soon," he told Funke media group's newspapers. Quality materials like copper, whose prices are dictated by the global market, are essential for heat pumps. Moreover, production is on a downturn. Hartung predicts, "Heat pumps will probably never be cheaper than a basic gas boiler."
Bosch plans to inject over a billion euros into heat pump development and production by 2030. However, according to the German Heating Industry Association, only 90,000 heat pumps were sold in the first half of 2024, which is less than half compared to the previous year's sales. Germany aimed to install 500,000 heat pumps annually starting from 2024.
Hartung described the current scenario as a "lean period," with the new Building Energy Act creating confusion among customers. "People are holding back and observing," he noted. "But I'm optimistic: this purchasing decision will just be postponed for a while." Heat pumps are an excellent solution for transitioning to a more eco-friendly heating system, replacing oil and gas boilers with less harmful options.
The Federal Ministry of Economics assured in August that there wouldn't be any budget cuts to state funding in the construction sector, such as for heat pump installation, in the upcoming year. The funding would remain unchanged.
The current lean period in heat pump sales is causing Bosch to invest over a billion euros into development and production by 2030, aiming to make heat pumps more affordable. However, Bosch's CEO, Hartung, predicts that heat pumps "will probably never be cheaper than a basic gas boiler" due to factors like material costs and production downturn.
