System-level Heat Pump Model for Investigations into Thermal Management of Electric Vehicles at Low Temperatures

This document explores the development of a flexible system-level heat pump and thermal management model for electric vehicles using Dymola and Modelica. The research focuses on improving low-temperature vehicle performance by integrating detailed electro-thermal battery models, cabin heating systems, refrigeration loops, coolant circuits, thermal storage, and waste heat recovery from vehicle components such as the motor, transmission, and battery.

Through dynamic thermal control strategies and configurable heat pump architectures, the study evaluates how different thermal management approaches affect cabin comfort, battery temperature regulation, energy consumption, and vehicle range under cold climate operating conditions. Using WLTP drive cycle simulations and multiple operational scenarios, the work demonstrates how advanced heat pump systems and intelligent thermal energy management can significantly improve electric vehicle efficiency, thermal comfort, and low-temperature performance while maintaining fast real-time capable simulation speeds for optimisation studies.