EVs turn big favourites with some dog owners

The Roseville, Minnesota, fire department has lots of trucks, but its latest had to be electric. That's the one that carries Ashes, its therapy dog, to and from fires, funerals and any other place where public safety officers need a morale boost. Assistant chief Niel Sjostrom says Ashes gets cozy in pretty much any vehicle, but the department's new Rivian Automotive SUV has programmable climate control, so pup stays safe when truck is parked in summer or cold of winter.

"The 'Pet Comfort' (feature) was a huge part of our decision," Sjostrom says from his station on the outskirts of Minneapolis. "Now, I don't leave here without bringing her with me." Almost all EVs now have some form of climate control that can be programmed to run when the machine is parked and driverless, another feature electric models can offer that internal combustion ones can't, like a front trunk or fueling at home.

The temperature setting, which carmakers have been marketing for years, is now drawing a wide and specific demographic: the devoted dog owner. Lucid Group calls its feature "creature comfort mode," which "has without a doubt been a great sales tool," says spokesman Justin Berkowitz.

Enthusiasm for electric vehicles has been fading somewhat around the world. The pace of EV sales, while still brisk, has slowed down in recent years as governments ratcheted back incentives for electric models, which remain more expensive than gas-powered cars. In this environment, keeping the family pet comfortable is one overlooked selling point that is convincing some people to go electric.

Adding features for dog owners is a sound business strategy. There have never been more dogs in the US, and households with them tend to earn more money than average. While a wide swath of EV brands let drivers keep climate control active for 30 minutes or so while the car is off, companies that exclusively make electric vehicles-Lucid Group, Polestar Automotive, Rivian and Tesla-have explicitly marketed the feature to dog lovers.

Laura Westfall held on to her Tesla Model Y for Phineas, her golden retriever who passed away in 2023, and Huckleberry, the one she got shortly thereafter. In September, she ditched the Tesla for a Rivian SUV and its "pet comfort" mode. Westfall wasn't dead-set on driving electric, but she couldn't find a gas-burning car with similar pet-friendly capabilities. Now, when she goes out to eat or run errands, Huckleberry is there, typically waiting patiently and trying to make friends through the closed windows.

Experts have long warned against leaving pets in an unattended car, but the carmakers promise their systems have safeguards built in. In these cars and trucks, a driver sets the climate control to run either before getting out of the car or remotely via an app.