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Thermal cloak for electric vehicles could improve charging speed and range

31 July 2023

Researchers at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China have created a new ‘thermal cloak’ for electric vehicle batteries, designed to keep them warm during the winter and cool during the summer for optimal performance.

According to charge point operator Osprey, the lithium-ion batteries in most electric vehicles have an optimum temperature of 20-25 degrees Celsius. This is because the batteries rely on a chemical reaction to store and release electricity, which can be interrupted by high or low temperatures.

In cold weather, this chemical reaction is slowed down and therefore it can take much longer for the battery to charge – particularly overnight when temperatures are lowest.

The new Janus Thermal Cloak, which is comprised of an outer layer which reflects sunlight and a thermal inner layer, remedies this by maintaining the optimum temperature. 

The reflective outer layer is made from thin fibres of silica coated in boron nitride, which are woven together into a fabric. This is then attached to the inner layer, made from aluminium alloy.

The product was tested on electric vehicles outside of Shanghai.

Testing found that electric vehicles with an average temperature of 50.5 degrees Celsius at noon, cooled by 22.8-27.7 degrees when covered with the thermal cloak.

Additionally, it was discovered that electric vehicles covered with the thermal clock never dropped below 0 degrees, despite the outside temperature of -6.8 degrees celcius.

Senior author of the study Dr Kehang Cui said, “This is the first time that we could achieve warming above the ambient temperature by almost 7°C during winter nights. This is also kind of surprising to us—there's no energy input or sunshine and we can still get warming.

“We don't have an estimation on how much the cloak would cost. We are carrying out further field tests at larger scale and analysis to translate the metrics and performance of the thermal cloak we tested in our paper to real-world economic benefits, such as what percentage of battery life can we increase, or how much electricity and energy can we save annually if we apply the thermal cloak on a building. We hope to commercialize the thermal cloak soon.”

Contract hire and fleet management specialists 

We at Marshall Leasing are interested in the latest news relating to electric vehicles, and we trust you find this information interesting.

If you would like to find out more about how you could benefit from our all-inclusive fleet management offering, please get in touch with our team of experts by emailing info@marshall-leasing.co.uk or calling 01480 414541. We will be delighted to assist.

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