Analysis of off-board powered thermal preconditioning in electric drive vehicles

Following a hot or cold thermal soak, vehicle climate control systems (air conditioning or heat) are required to quickly attain a cabin temperature comfortable to the vehicle occupants. In a plug-in hybrid electric or electric vehicle (PEV) equipped with electric climate control systems, the traction battery is the sole on-board power source. Depleting the battery for immediate climate control results in reduced charge-depleting (CD) range and additional battery wear. PEV cabin and battery thermal preconditioning using off-board power supplied by the grid or a building can mitigate the impacts of climate control. This analysis shows that climate control loads can reduce CD range up to 35%. However, cabin thermal preconditioning can increase CD range up to 19% when compared to no thermal preconditioning. In addition, this analysis shows that while battery capacity loss over time is driven by ambient temperature rather than climate control loads, concurrent battery thermal preconditioning can reduce capacity loss up to 7% by reducing pack temperature in a high ambient temperature scenario.