Review of Cabin Thermal Management for Electrified Passenger Vehicles

The technical maturity and rapidly increasing market share of electrified vehicles have given more importance to the cabin thermal management. Efficient thermal management has a key role to maintain adequate electric operating range, protect components from aging and ensure passenger comfort. This research comprehensively reviews the cabin thermal management systems for electrified vehicles. Various vehicle cabin thermal modeling techniques and the key concepts for cabin thermal comfort have been discussed. Different technical and operational solutions of the cabin thermal management in hot and cold climate conditions are evaluated. The recent developments including heat pumps, thermal system control, passive thermal management, and cabin preconditioning to increase thermal management efficiency are analyzed. The results show that increasing amount of research is focusing on improving the thermal efficiency of the individual electrical components and the vehicle level systems. However, new solutions will be required for reducing the cabin thermal load under hot conditions and improving the heating system operational flexibility and efficiency in cold climates.