Driving range evaluation of electric vehicle with transcritical CO2 thermal management system under different battery temperature controls

Abstract

Improper battery temperature will lead to reduced battery discharge efficiency and electric vehicle driving range. Endeavors to find an efficient and precise battery temperature control method for the transcritical CO2 thermal management system of electric vehicles, two evaporation temperature control methods for battery cooling were proposed. First, the effects of the control methods on battery temperature, optimal discharge pressure and coefficient of performance (COP) were simulated under typical operating conditions. Subsequently, a comparative simulation was conducted on the battery temperatures and COP of the two control methods under full cooling conditions. The results revealed that equal evaporation temperature control induced a reduction in battery temperature to 11 °C (suboptimal levels) under conditions of low ambient temperature and vehicle speed. Conversely, while unequal evaporation temperature control could maintain the battery temperature within the optimal range of 20–45 °C, it would result in a maximum COP drop of more than 20% under certain conditions. Furthermore, the effects of the two control methods on driving range under different ambient temperatures and vehicle speeds were studied. The reasults indicated that the ultimate influence of uneuqal evaporation temperature control on the quarterly average driving range was virtually negligible, peaking at 1.35%. Given the dual-objective constraints pertaining to the driving range and the battery cooling performance, it was concluded that uneuqal evaporation temperature control was the optimal choice for direct battery cooling.