Efficient cabin and powertrain preconditioning for EVs with a water-to-water heat pump system

DENSO developed an innovative solution to provide efficient thermal preconditioning in electric vehicles, for both the cabin, offering maximum comfort to the user with low energy consumption, and the powertrain, improving the driving range of the vehicle. The preconditioning strategy exploits the novel concept (using the available energy in the vehicle) in 2 different ways: by getting the trigger directly from the user or by predicting the driver's behavior (approach to vehicle) and providing a custom conditioning according to personal user profiles (temperature). Finally the efficient thermal management in the vehicle is provided by a water-to-water heat pump system. The heat-pump system uses ambient heat from the environment even at sub-zero temperatures and is also designed to harvest excess heat dissipated from the power electronics, i.e. the inverter and the electric motor.