The development of an energy-efficient heating system for electric vehicles

Abstract

Electric vehicle mileage is limited because of its dependence on the battery, and moreover is reduced due to the use of battery power for heating in winter and air conditioning in summer. In particular, the capacity of lithium ion batteries decreases as the temperature of the battery falls. At a temperature of -25°C, the capacity is decreased to 60% of that at 25 °C. In particular, PTC heaters, which are mainly used in electric vehicles, increase battery power consumption. Also, the heat pump, and in particular its compressor, consumes a lot of battery power, and it shows poor performance in cold weather. Hence, the PTC heater and heat pump are not good solutions for the heating issues of electric vehicles. According to recent studies, the cruising range of electric vehicles is reduced to about 40% due to the power consumption of the heater at 0 °C. In order to enhance heating performance and initial battery performance of electric vehicles in cold weather, a feasibility study of a fire-operating heating system using a low carbon fuel was conducted in this work, and satisfactory results were obtained.