How electric vehicle energy flow is distributed in low-temperature conditions under real-world driving?

Abstract

Electric vehicles are essential for decarbonizing transport, though many challenges lie ahead. One issue that has received recent attention is the gap between real-world battery energy consumption and results from laboratory tests, especially in winter, where the operational status of thermal management system (TMS), including air conditioning (AC) system, varies greatly. Despite the critical importance of TMS for safety anddriving range performance, the precise contribution of TMS to battery and cabin energy consumption remains elusive. Through a comprehensive expermental analysis of the energy flow characteristics and consumption patterns of a certain four-wheel-drive multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) under diverse lowtemperature conditions (-7 °C , -20 °C ), we elucidated the operational traits of the primary energy-consuming components in cold environments, with particular emphasis on the vehicle's overall energy consumption. Based on the standardized CLTC-P test procedure, our experimental findings reveal a pronounced increase in the overall energy consumption of EVs in lowtemperature environments, with energy consumption recorded as 6.8 kW.h, and 8.9 kW.h, respectively. Notably, the energy consumption attributed to the battery thermal management system accounts for 54.0 %, and 59.8 %, while the propulsion system's motor drive energy consumption represents 43.8 %, and 38.0 %, respectively. Furthermore, under the two lowtemperature conditions, the activation of the air conditioning system incurs an additional energy consumption of 16.60 %, and 18.44 %, respectively. Notably, the energy consumption surge is more pronounced when the air conditioning is activated, with energy consumption increasing by up to 287.65 % at -20 °C , compared with the standard working condition, corresponding to a 74.20 % decline in driving range, which further elucidating the mechanistic effects of # This is a paper for the