Work

Experimental Performance Investigation of an Air–Air Heat Exchanger and Improved Insulation for Electric Truck Cabins

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are one promising approach to mitigating local greenhouse gas emissions. However, they still lag behind conventional vehicles in terms of maximum driving range. Using the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system reduces the maximum driving range of the vehicle even further since the energy for the HVAC system must come from the battery. This work investigates the impact of (1) an air–air heat exchanger and (2) an improved thermal insulation of a truck cabin on the heating performance of the HVAC system. Additionally, the required fresh-air volume flow rate to keep the CO2 level within the truck cabin below the critical value of 1000 ppm is factored in. The results show that the two simple measures proposed could increase the energy efficiency of the truck’s HVAC system by 22%. When two persons are present in the truck cabin, a fresh-air volume flow of around 100 m3/h is required to keep the CO2 concentration around 1000 ppm. These results prove that, even with simple measures, the energy efficiency of vehicles’ subsystems can be increased. In the future, more research will be necessary to further improve the energy efficiency of other vehicular subsystems.

Source: World Electric Vehicle Journal

DOI: 10.3390/wevj16030129

Authors: Dominik Dvorak, Milan Kardos, Imre Gellai, Dragan Šimić

Institution: AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH

Language: English

Topic: Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies

Subfield: Mechanical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Climate action, Affordable and clean energy, Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,689