You can have it in any color, as long as it's black

This is part 3 in a miniseries about heat pumps in India. If you missed the earlier issues, start with part 1 and part 2!

Standardization can be a key lever to mass production. Henry Ford famously limited the color options on the Model T to black, allowing for the assembly line to keep building cars without having to be shut down for paint changeovers.

After observing heat pump deployment in India, it’s apparent that the same principles can apply to HVAC as well.

Choice, but no choice

When I walked into an electronics store to look at heat pump options, I was surprised by the array of options. There were dozens of different units mounted on a wall, in a wide range of brands and capacities.

Although I was overwhelmed by choice at first, I realized that it was actually a pretty straightforward buying decision. As we’ve discussed in this newsletter before, heat pump brands don't really matter. 

If I cared about aesthetics, I might choose one of the Samsung units which had marginally better industrial design than the rest. If I was shopping for value, I’d choose the least expensive brand. If I had strong loyalty to one of the brands on the wall (my mom exclusively buys Whirlpool appliances, for example), I would choose that. Otherwise, I’d let the salesperson guide my choice.

Sizing is also simple. The sales associate recommends a heat pump capacity based on square footage rules of thumb.

As some of our readers have rightly pointed out, there are shortcomings in sizing systems this way, but it makes for a quick and straightforward purchasing experience.

Choosing a system is not much different from choosing a brand of canned tomatoes at a grocery store shelf. Heat pumps are commodities.

Commoditized equipment, commoditized installation

Regardless of brand, every single-zone wall mounted mini split heat pump system is installed in exactly the same way. With each piece of equipment effectively interchangeable, it means that installation can be standardized too.

In India, homes historically haven’t had heating and cooling equipment beyond ceiling fans and window air conditioners. That means that installing HVAC equipment is generally a greenfield project - there aren’t considerations about designing a system that integrates with existing infrastructure or architecture.

In almost every project, the installation is as simple as:

1. Find an location on an exterior wall to mount the indoor unit

2. Drill a hole through the wall

3. Mount the outdoor unit on the other side of the wall, as closely as possible

4. Route the refrigerant lines through the wall and connect to both indoor and outdoor unit

5. Route condensation line outside of the house

6. Wire the equipment into an existing wall outlet

With the installation process standardized, pricing is standardized too. The typical installation charge is around 1500 rupees (about $18)! For some perspective, that’s about the same amount that we paid to hire a chauffeur to drive us around for a full day on a trip. It seems to line up with the direct labor cost of two workers for half a day, a reasonable expected installation time.

Because the scope of work is consistent, it also means that the supporting supply chain infrastructure is simplified too. I visited a handful of HVAC distributors in India, and all of them operated out of small spaces - roughly 200 square feet, the size of a garage. Even with such a tight footprint, they stocked the essentials, including refrigerants, nitrogen gas, copper tubing and fittings, and common HVAC tools.

Contrast that with HVAC distribution in the US. To account for a vast mix of equipment form factors, duct sizes, and installation practices, distributors need to maintain massive inventories. The San Jose, CA location of Slakey Brothers, a regional HVAC distributor, is 93,605 square feet!

Ducts still exist

This isn’t to say that every single HVAC system in India is a single zone ductless mini-split. Other mini-split system form factors still exist, as do ducted systems. However, these are almost exclusively used in the commercial segment, which is served by a different pool of more specialized contractors.

India’s approach to HVAC highlights the power of standardization. By treating residential heat pumps as interchangeable commodities, the process becomes faster, simpler, and more accessible. Installation is streamlined, the supply chain is lean, and costs are slashed, making heat pumps attainable for millions of households.

Of course, this model isn’t perfect - quick installations based on rough sizing may not deliver the comfort and efficiency that a tailored system provides. But for a country where heat pumps were largely absent a few decades ago, this standardization has enabled rapid deployment at scale.