4 ms·
Heating is relatively significant, it can take 10-20% off the range in theory. EV’s can solve this problem in a variety of ways: i) Preheating the cabin from m
by Brakenshire 8y ago
Heating is relatively significant, it can take 10-20% off the range in theory. EV’s can solve this problem in a variety of ways:
i) Preheating the cabin from mains electicity, either predictively or through user command.
ii) Using heat pumps to scavenge and move heat around different parts of the car. If you’re early in a road trip you would have enough power in the battery to heat the car for a day or more. If you’re later in the trip there will be a lot of heat in the batteries and motors which can be shifted into the cabin. Similarly heat pumps can be used in reverse to scavenge heat from the cabin and frame to keep the batteries warm if the car is left outside for a long time without being plugged in. Batteries don’t like dropping beneath a certain temperature range.
iii) Simply increasing heat insulation. It’s not difficult to insulate better, it’s just it hasn’t been needed, because there’s so much wasted heat energy in internal combustion vehicles. A human is a 100W space heater, I’d imagine you could quite easily design a cabin for a small car to hold temperature even in the absence of any other heat source.
- ricardobeat 8y ago> you could quite easily design a cabin for a small car to hold temperature even in the absence of any other heat source In my experience most cars do hold temperature for at least 20-30m with vents closed. You still need air exchange though for longer periods, so losing heat is unavoidable.