Advances on air conditioning and heat pump system in electric vehicles - A review

There is a rising interest in electric vehicle׳s climate control system including cooling and heating. Electric vehicles (EVs, including hybrid electric vehicles and full electric vehicles) have inadequate waste heat to warm up the cabin and the climate control system has a very significant effect on the energy consumption efficiency and operating mileage. Heat pump (HP) is one approach for energy consumption efficiency improvement in EVs which can supply cooling and heating capacity. A literature review was performed on the vapor compression HP cycle design, performance characteristics, and challenges for variable working fluids for electric vehicles. The non-vapor compressor HP systems were also analyzed including the applications of magnetocaloric effect and thermoelectric effect. It seems heat pump system is a reasonable and feasible option in EV׳s climate control system if some essential issues could be solved. The mobile climate control systems based on magnetocaloric effect and thermoelectric effect could be the supplementary methods in future applications.