Continental is making electric cars winter-proof

Continental is making electric cars winter-proof

Electric batteries do not feel comfortable in summer heat or winter cold. Cold slows down the electrochemical processes, the battery voltage drops and there is a risk of a deep discharge that is harmful to the battery. “Electrical energy that has been lost due to the wrong temperature can no longer be recovered,” says Patrick Handritschk, who works on thermal management solutions at Continental. The fact is that the performance of an electric vehicle battery is highest in a temperature corridor between 15 and 40 degrees Celsius. It is therefore obvious that the temperature management system developed by the Continental experts has a direct influence on the range.

In principle, the construction of electric vehicles is significantly less complex than those with combustion engines: a gasoline engine with a manual transmission, for example, has around 1,400 parts. In contrast, an electric car only needs 200 individual components. The cooling and heat pipes are one of the few exceptions. While in a combustion engine only the engine itself needs to be cooled and the heat generated can be used to heat the cabin, the pipe system in an electric vehicle is much more complex. Here the temperature has to be managed for several circuits, for the powertrain, the air conditioning and finally the battery. Depending on the outside temperature, the battery must either be cooled or warmed up. Today, this usually happens via separate systems that are connected by a heat exchanger. And so the total cable length doubles compared to the combustion engine to almost 30 meters. The same applies to the number of plug connections, quick couplings and clamps required.

The most important property for cables in electrically powered vehicles is absolute tightness despite all external influences. A mixture of water and a coolant such as glycol flows through the pipes and hoses. Alternatives such as dielectric fluids are also increasingly being used in electric vehicles. Therefore, the materials used must also have the appropriate chemical resistance. Polyamide, polypropylene or polyphenylene sulfide plastics have proven to be particularly suitable for this. "Fortunately, the cables in a vehicle are generally designed so that they do not need to be replaced. That alone reduces resource consumption," says Patrick Handritschk. In addition, the developers pay particular attention to the weight of the components, because due to the high battery weight, every possible gram should be saved elsewhere. Handritschk: “Thanks to new materials that are just as stable and dense as their predecessors despite a thinner wall, we have been able to save well over 50 percent in weight in comparison.”