EV Fundamentals: Cooling & Heating
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Cooling & Heating
03.05
| 00:00 | An electric vehicle's thermal systems are entirely different from what you'd find in a typical internal combustion engine vehicle. |
| 00:06 | And for that reason, in this section of the course, we're going to start with an overview of an EV's cooling and heating requirements before diving into the individual components that maintain and meet those requirements. |
| 00:16 | The main difference between EV and ice cooling systems is the temperatures that the systems operate at. |
| 00:22 | With an internal combustion vehicle, coolant can run upwards of 100 degrees Celsius and engine oil much hotter than that. |
| 00:27 | For that reason, it's relatively easy to shed a tremendous amount of heat from an ice vehicle quickly. |
| 00:33 | Electric vehicles don't need to shed nearly as much heat because they're so efficient, but what they do need to do is work at much lower temperatures. |
| 00:40 | Batteries, for example, like to be kept under 45 degrees Celsius. |
| 00:44 | In a hot climate where the road temperature can reach or exceed that temperature, it's difficult or sometimes impossible to shed the required amount of heat unless a compressor or heat pump is used. |
| 00:55 | Other systems in an EV, like the inverter and motor, are able to run hotter. |
| 00:59 | So, for this reason, it's usually a good idea to have multiple coolant loops that operate at different temperatures. |
| 01:05 | And we'll be talking more about that soon. |
| 01:07 | Heating the driver compartment is also a challenge because there just isn't a whole lot of waste heat that can be used. |
| 01:12 | With an internal combustion engine's vehicle, on the other hand, there's always ample heat in the coolant to simply run through a heater core to warm the cabin. |
| 01:19 | EV components create next to no heat, so resistive heating or a heat pump needs to be used instead. |
| 01:24 | This uses additional energy, reducing the range of the vehicle. |
| 01:27 | So, manufacturers are always looking for the best way to move heat around to satisfy all of the EV components, as well as the passengers. |
| 01:34 | We're now starting to see new OEM electric vehicles with incredibly complex plenum and multivalve systems that allow for a plethora of different thermal operating modes with a minimal amount of plumbing. |
| 01:44 | This allows increased efficiency as the vehicle can utilize all of the waste heat produced and use an efficient heat pump to make up for the additional heating or cooling required. |
| 01:53 | Batteries also need to be warmed to a certain temperature to allow charging or to speed up fast charging. |
| 01:59 | So, another consideration of the thermal system is a way to not just cool the battery, but to heat it too. |
| 02:03 | The battery must be kept above zero degrees to allow any charging, and for high-powered DC charging, battery temperatures over 40 degrees are typically desirable. |
| 02:11 | In the following modules, we're going to break down the heating and cooling systems into a few different components, discuss how they work and how one might set up the layout of a plumbing system for an EV conversion that's going to be both simple and effective, and this whole process should give you a better understanding of how this entire system works. |
| 02:27 | First though, here are the main points to remember from this module. |
| 02:30 | EV systems operate at much lower temperatures than combustion engines, and that means a few key things. |
| 02:36 | Firstly, EVs don't need to shed a lot of heat like an ICE vehicle does, as they don't create much heat in the first place. |
| 02:41 | This also means we're not able to harness that wasted heat energy for things like in-cabin climate control. |
| 02:47 | Batteries, on the other hand, don't appreciate being run hotter than 50 degrees Celsius or so, and that means something like a heat pump might need to be used in high-performance applications to keep temperatures under control. |
| 02:57 | This all takes power, and manufacturers are constantly trying to harness what little spare energy there is in the most efficient way in order to keep the range as high as possible. |
