Experimental Performance Investigation of an Air–Air Heat Exchanger and Improved Insulation for Electric Truck Cabins

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are one promising approach to mitigating local greenhouse gas emissions. However, they still lag behind conventional vehicles in terms of maximum driving range. Using the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system reduces the maximum driving range of th...

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Main Authors: Dominik Dvorak, Milan Kardos, Imre Gellai, Dragan Šimić
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-02-01
Series:World Electric Vehicle Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2032-6653/16/3/129
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author Dominik Dvorak
Milan Kardos
Imre Gellai
Dragan Šimić
author_facet Dominik Dvorak
Milan Kardos
Imre Gellai
Dragan Šimić
author_sort Dominik Dvorak
collection DOAJ
description Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are one promising approach to mitigating local greenhouse gas emissions. However, they still lag behind conventional vehicles in terms of maximum driving range. Using the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system reduces the maximum driving range of the vehicle even further since the energy for the HVAC system must come from the battery. This work investigates the impact of (1) an air–air heat exchanger and (2) an improved thermal insulation of a truck cabin on the heating performance of the HVAC system. Additionally, the required fresh-air volume flow rate to keep the CO<sub>2</sub> level within the truck cabin below the critical value of 1000 ppm is factored in. The results show that the two simple measures proposed could increase the energy efficiency of the truck’s HVAC system by 22%. When two persons are present in the truck cabin, a fresh-air volume flow of around 100 m<sup>3</sup>/h is required to keep the CO<sub>2</sub> concentration around 1000 ppm. These results prove that, even with simple measures, the energy efficiency of vehicles’ subsystems can be increased. In the future, more research will be necessary to further improve the energy efficiency of other vehicular subsystems.
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publishDate 2025-02-01
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spelling doaj-art-bd2d2460f8c54dc7ab1cbe8ac6b60d392025-08-20T01:50:02ZengMDPI AGWorld Electric Vehicle Journal2032-66532025-02-0116312910.3390/wevj16030129Experimental Performance Investigation of an Air–Air Heat Exchanger and Improved Insulation for Electric Truck CabinsDominik Dvorak0Milan Kardos1Imre Gellai2Dragan Šimić3AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, 1210 Vienna, AustriaAIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, 1210 Vienna, AustriaAIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, 1210 Vienna, AustriaAIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, 1210 Vienna, AustriaBattery electric vehicles (BEVs) are one promising approach to mitigating local greenhouse gas emissions. However, they still lag behind conventional vehicles in terms of maximum driving range. Using the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system reduces the maximum driving range of the vehicle even further since the energy for the HVAC system must come from the battery. This work investigates the impact of (1) an air–air heat exchanger and (2) an improved thermal insulation of a truck cabin on the heating performance of the HVAC system. Additionally, the required fresh-air volume flow rate to keep the CO<sub>2</sub> level within the truck cabin below the critical value of 1000 ppm is factored in. The results show that the two simple measures proposed could increase the energy efficiency of the truck’s HVAC system by 22%. When two persons are present in the truck cabin, a fresh-air volume flow of around 100 m<sup>3</sup>/h is required to keep the CO<sub>2</sub> concentration around 1000 ppm. These results prove that, even with simple measures, the energy efficiency of vehicles’ subsystems can be increased. In the future, more research will be necessary to further improve the energy efficiency of other vehicular subsystems.https://www.mdpi.com/2032-6653/16/3/129air conditioningelectric vehicleexperimental investigationheat exchangerinsulationperformance increase
spellingShingle Dominik Dvorak
Milan Kardos
Imre Gellai
Dragan Šimić
Experimental Performance Investigation of an Air–Air Heat Exchanger and Improved Insulation for Electric Truck Cabins
World Electric Vehicle Journal
air conditioning
electric vehicle
experimental investigation
heat exchanger
insulation
performance increase
title Experimental Performance Investigation of an Air–Air Heat Exchanger and Improved Insulation for Electric Truck Cabins
title_full Experimental Performance Investigation of an Air–Air Heat Exchanger and Improved Insulation for Electric Truck Cabins
title_fullStr Experimental Performance Investigation of an Air–Air Heat Exchanger and Improved Insulation for Electric Truck Cabins
title_full_unstemmed Experimental Performance Investigation of an Air–Air Heat Exchanger and Improved Insulation for Electric Truck Cabins
title_short Experimental Performance Investigation of an Air–Air Heat Exchanger and Improved Insulation for Electric Truck Cabins
title_sort experimental performance investigation of an air air heat exchanger and improved insulation for electric truck cabins
topic air conditioning
electric vehicle
experimental investigation
heat exchanger
insulation
performance increase
url https://www.mdpi.com/2032-6653/16/3/129
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AT milankardos experimentalperformanceinvestigationofanairairheatexchangerandimprovedinsulationforelectrictruckcabins
AT imregellai experimentalperformanceinvestigationofanairairheatexchangerandimprovedinsulationforelectrictruckcabins
AT dragansimic experimentalperformanceinvestigationofanairairheatexchangerandimprovedinsulationforelectrictruckcabins