The German manufacturer Bosch believes that significantly lower prices for heat pumps are unlikely. Demand for the devices has recently fallen. “However, we have to be cautious about whether they will quickly become cheaper,” Bosch boss Stefan Hartung told the newspapers of the Funke Media Group. Heat pumps contain a lot of high-quality material such as copper, the price of which is determined on the world market. In addition, production has been reduced.
“Heat pumps will probably never be cheaper than a simple gas boiler,” said Hartung. Bosch is betting heavily on the heat pump business and is investing more than a billion euros in the development and production of heat pumps by 2030. But according to the German Heating Industry Association, after a sales record in 2023, only 90,000 heat pumps were sold in the first half of 2024, less than half as many as in the same period last year. The German government had set a goal of installing 500,000 heat pumps every year from 2024.
Hartung speaks of a dry spell. The new building energy law has caused great uncertainty among customers. “Customers are currently preferring to wait and see,” said the Bosch boss. “But I am sure that this purchase decision will only be postponed for a while.” The heat pump is a great way to achieve the heat transition. This involves replacing oil and gas boilers with less climate-damaging heating systems.