Abstract:

Thermal management for electric vehicles is becoming ever more significant for ensuring long driving range. Batteries must be heated when used in cold climates since climatizing them to the best operating temperatures is essential for their performance and lifespan. This often results in reduced driving range. This work numerically investigates the potential of thermal encapsulation of large battery packs for electric truck applications. Vehicle-level simulations were performed under drive cycle conditions at different operating temperatures to study its influence on the battery performance. Parking–driving cycles at various ambient temperatures and a parametric study on the encapsulation characteristics were carried out to assess the energy consumption under each condition. The study shows that the high thermal resistance of the insulation material significantly reduced the heat loss to the environment acclimatizing the battery pack close to near-optimal operating temperatures, which can result in potential energy savings of about 15% at −25 °C when operating after a 12-h parking period.