Advanced Thermal Management Systems for Performance Optimization and Lifespan Extension in Electric Vehicles

Author

V. Vinay Kumar, Challa Venkatesh, E. Prabhash Ram , Varadi Lavanya Kumar

Abstract

Electric-vehicle (EV) battery performance, safety and service life depend strongly on the operating temperature and temperature uniformity of the battery pack. Heat generated by electrochemical reactions, internal resistance and reversible entropic effects must be removed effectively; otherwise elevated or non-uniform cell temperatures accelerate ageing, reduce available power, create cell-to-cell imbalance and increase safety risks. This review consolidates four related literature syntheses into a single assessment of battery thermal management systems (BTMS) for EV applications. It covers air cooling, indirect liquid cooling, direct immersion and spray cooling, phase-change materials (PCMs), heat pipes, thermoelectric cooling (TEC) and hybrid systems, and extends the discussion to machine-learning and model-predictive thermal control, low-temperature preheating, cell-to-pack cooling with mechanical protection, charging infrastructure, and life-cycle and recycling considerations. More than twenty published studies are summarised with their reported values retained as supplied. Active liquid-based approaches reduced peak temperature and temperature variation under high discharge rates (for example, a simulated 48 V LFP pack fell from 330.71 K to 306.41 K at 8C), while air cooling remains attractive for simple, lower-heat-load systems but a natural-inlet 5S5P pack reached 126 °C at 3C. Thermoelectric studies reported strong cooling effects (a 55 °C to 12 °C surface-temperature drop) at an efficiency cost (COP of 1.09 in a zonal prototype), and a PCM–TEC arrangement with axial fins lowered mean battery temperature from 85 °C to 48 °C. Production footprints of 58–92 kg CO -eq/kWh for lithium-ion cells and a 61% lower CO -equivalent burden for an EV scenario versus an ICEV-only future place thermal design in a wider sustainability context. Because the studies differ in cell format, boundary conditions and metrics, their numerical results are not directly comparable. The review identifies the need for standardised comparative testing and integrated, multi-objective BTMS design that balances thermal performance with pumping power, auxiliary energy, mass, cost, reliability, safety and environmental impact.

Keywords

electric vehicle; lithium-ion battery; battery thermal management system; air cooling; liquid cooling; immersion cooling; thermoelectric cooling; phase-change material; model predictive control; fast charging; life-cycle assessment; battery safety.

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References

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