Thermal Management of Electric Vehicle Batteries Using Phase Change Materials: A Case Study

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) rely heavily on lithium-ion batteries, whose temperature strongly affects performance, ageing, efficiency and safety. Heat is generated during battery charging and discharging, and excessive temperature rise can accelerate degradation and increase safety risks. This research presents a case study of battery thermal management using Phase Change Material (PCM). PCM absorbs thermal energy as latent heat during its phase transition and can therefore limit battery temperature rise without continuous mechanical cooling. An illustrative numerical case study compares a representative lithium-ion battery module with and without a paraffin-based PCM layer. Under the selected operating condition, the maximum temperature after 60 minutes is reduced from 55.1 °C without PCM to 41.5 °C with PCM, a reduction of 13.6 °C. The study indicates that PCM can be an effective passive thermal-management approach for transient high-heat-load conditions. However, its low thermal conductivity and finite heat-storage capacity can limit long-duration performance. Hybrid PCM-active cooling and thermally enhanced PCM are therefore promising directions for future EV battery systems.