Use of a Thermal Battery with a Heat Pump for Low Temperature Electric Vehicle Operation

Below 10oC, electric vehicles suffer from reduced range, which can be as severe as a 70% reduction (at -26oC). This is due to reduced battery performance at low temperatures and increased cabin heating demand. Heat pumps have been shown to have good steady state performance, but suffer slow and inefficient transients, while thermal storage has been shown to provide large heat flows and reduced warm up times, but space for such thermal storage is limited. Here a heat pump is combined with an optimally designed thermal battery and the simulated results are presented with improvements to energy consumption demonstrated.