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Experimental research on heat pump with a novel framework for optimal thermal source in electric light commercial vehicle.

Author(s) : WANG X., YUAN F., GUO F., LI H., ZHAO S., QI Z.

Type of article: IJR article

Summary

Electric light commercial vehicles (e-LCV) suffer from severe driving range reduction in cold climates. This becomes a critical barrier to e-LCV’s widespread adoption, primarily due to limited battery capacity, high thermal management loads, and inefficient heating methods. To address this challenge, this study presents the design and on‑road experimental validation of a multi‑source heat pump system that extracts waste heat from the motor and battery in addition to ambient air. A novel Framework for Optimal Thermal Source (FOTS) was proposed to dynamically optimize heating modes based on real‑time ambient and coolant temperatures, and a
corresponding three‑layer control strategy was implemented. The system was evaluated against a conventional non-heat-pump scheme which used Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) heater. The on-road testing showed that at -20.0 ◦C ambient, the heat-pump scheme increased the footwell air outlet heating rate by 22.2% for charging and by 21.4% for driving. Within the ambient temperature range from -20.0 ◦C to 0.0 ◦C, the heat-pump scheme reduced the average power consumption by up to 36.2% (charging) and 38.6% (driving) compared to the non-heat-pump scheme. The environmental chamber tests further revealed that raising the initial temperature from -20.0 ◦C to 10.0 ◦C shortened the charging time by 14.7% and reduced the energy consumption by 86.7%, demonstrating that continuous charge-drive cycles can significantly lower energy use. This study provides an on‑road validation of a FOTS-guided heat pump for e‑LCVs and quantifies the real‑world energy benefits of continuous cycling. The proposed system offers a practical solution to mitigate range anxiety in cold‑climate logistics, going beyond previous simulation‑only or bench‑test methods mostly adopted in existing studies.

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Pages: 14 p.

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Details

  • Original title: Experimental research on heat pump with a novel framework for optimal thermal source in electric light commercial vehicle.
  • Record ID : 30035272
  • Languages: English
  • Source: International Journal of Refrigeration - Revue Internationale du Froid - vol. 189
  • Publication date: 2026/09
  • DOI: http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2026.106995

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