In gasoline-burning cars and trucks, waste heat from burning gasoline is tapped to heat up the cabin. But what about electric cars? They typically have to use electric heaters—or maybe not. A new patent, filed in 2020 by Michigan’s Craig Lindquist and Changchun Li and Italy’s Attilio Crivellari and just granted, would re-use waste heat in electric cars, too—a technology which could be handy in PHEVs as well as BEVs.
The idea is that a high-temperature coolant loop would be used for the heater core, while a low-temperature coolant loop would get heat from the electric motor(s) and electronics. A four-way valve would selectively “fluidly couple” the two loops so that heat generated by the motor(s), electronics, and possibly the battery would be used rather than dissipated.
Electric powertrain don’t really deliver all that much heat, but relying entirely on electric heaters clearly reduces the range of electric and plug-in hybrid cars. The system described in this patent could help to reduce the need for the electric heater.
See other Stellpower stories on electric car technologies
David Zatz started what was to become the world’s biggest, most comprehensive Mopar site in 1994 as he pursued a career in organizational research and change. After a chemo-induced break, during which he wrote car books covering Vipers, minivans, and Jeeps, he returned with Patrick Rall to create StellPower.com for daily news, and to set up MoTales for mo’ tales.
David Zatz has around 30 years of experience in covering Chrysler/Mopar news and history, and most recently wrote Century of Chrysler, a 100-year retrospective on the Chrysler marque.
Discover more from Stellpower - that Mopar news site
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.