Effect of Range Extender Active Preheating Battery on Operating Cost for Range-Extended Electric Vehicle

Abstract:

Electric vehicles experience significant range limitations due to decreased lithium-ion battery performance at low temperatures and substantial energy consumption by air conditioning systems. This study presents an integrated thermal management system topology for electric vehicles that implements a triple-hybrid heating strategy， combining a heat pump system， auxiliary positive temperature coefficient heater， and motor waste heat recovery. This approach enhances battery preheating efficiency while maintaining cabin thermal comfort and reducing overall energy consumption. To address challenges in secondary loop flow distribution and heater power control， a vehicle-level model predictive controller was developed based on heat transfer principles. Additionally， a heating optimization strategy specifically designed for the proposed thermal management topology was introduced. The viability of the proposed topology was validated through co-simulation using Simulink and AMEsim. Results demonstrate that the proposed integrated thermal management system solution achieves energy savings of 6.99%， 4.75%， and 2.36% in vehicle SOC consumption across three WLTC driving cycles， compared to alternative solutions. Moreover， the MPC control strategy yields an additional 0.53% reduction in overall vehicle SOC consumption upon completion.