Let the battery no longer be afraid of freezing! Lynk & Co released a new thermal management system: energy efficiency increased by 2-3 times

As winter approaches, the impact of low temperatures on pure electric vehicles has become increasingly obvious. Especially in areas below zero in China, the vehicle's range is almost "broken". Faced with low temperatures, car owners are trying their best to slow down the impact of temperature on the battery by using slow charging, not turning on the heater, or even covering themselves with quilts, so as to ensure range as much as possible. However, these methods are only temporary solutions, and if you want to truly alleviate the impact of low temperatures on the battery, you still have to use more direct and scientific methods. Yesterday (January 10), Lynk & Co announced the overall structure of the battery thermal management system of its first pure electric model, the ZERO concept. It has built a new generation of thermal management system by equipping it with a direct heat pump, as well as electric drive waste heat, electric drive active heating and other functions, to achieve efficient and energy-saving winter battery thermal management.

Why is low temperature the number one "killer" of batteries?

Many people may know that low temperature will greatly affect the overall endurance of the vehicle, but few know the reason. Simply put, low temperature will cause the compatibility between the battery's electrolyte and the negative electrode diaphragm to deteriorate, and the electrolyte will increase its magnetic viscosity or even freeze as the temperature decreases. We can simply understand that the electrolyte activity deteriorates, resulting in a decrease in transmission capacity, and the battery's own charging and discharging capabilities will deteriorate, resulting in excessive power loss during the discharge process. Test data show that, based on 25 degrees Celsius as the standard, the battery capacity will decrease by 0.8% to 0.1% for every 1 degree Celsius drop in temperature. Therefore, products such as pure electric vehicles equipped with large-capacity batteries are more obviously and seriously affected in low temperature environments.

How does Lynk & Co keep the battery warm? ‍

Knowing the impact of low temperature on batteries, we know that as long as the battery temperature is kept at around 25 degrees Celsius, the vehicle's normal endurance can be guaranteed. However, for most pure electric vehicles, it is almost impossible to keep the battery at around 25 degrees Celsius in winter. However, in order to solve this problem, Lynk & Co equipped its first pure electric vehicle ZERO concept with a more advanced thermal management system.

According to the information released by Lynk & Co, the core of this thermal management system is the direct heat pump, which can achieve 2-3 times the energy efficiency of the traditional PTC mode. The direct heat pump can pump heat from the low-temperature working medium (natural environment) to the high-temperature working medium (power battery compartment), and pump the external heat into the passenger compartment by consuming a small amount of electricity, thereby consuming a small amount of electricity to "transport" heat, thereby improving the heating efficiency. At the same time, in the current field of heat pump systems, only a few pure electric vehicles such as Jaguar I-Pace and Toyota Prius are equipped with this battery heating method. However, the high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant direct heating technology used by Lynk & Co has a 10% higher thermal efficiency than ordinary heat pumps. Therefore, whether compared with the traditional PTC mode or the same heat pump mode, Lynk & Co is at the forefront of technology.

According to the data provided by Lynk & Co, its complete thermal management system can raise the temperature of the battery compartment to a stable battery operating temperature of 15-20℃ at a temperature of minus 30 degrees Celsius, and the vehicle's range can be increased by more than 80 kilometers compared to a single PTC mode model. Therefore, judging from the data provided by Lynk & Co, the thermal management system equipped in the ZERO concept is indeed quite powerful. However, at present, it is only the technical data unilaterally provided by Lynk & Co. Whether the actual car can achieve such an effect will have to wait until the new car is launched and proved by actual performance.

Future development direction of battery/electronic control technology‍

As one of the important reference indicators for consumers to purchase pure electric vehicles, various manufacturers and battery suppliers are constantly breaking the upper limit of battery capacity in exchange for longer vehicle range. Although "capacity expansion and range increase" is the simplest and most direct method, if pure electric vehicles want to improve range and user experience more scientifically, thermal management systems like Lynk & Co. are also one of the important directions of future battery/electronic control technology.

According to Cheyiquan, which ranks among the top ten in China, battery capacity is the core of the future development of pure electric vehicles, while battery safety, battery materials, battery temperature control, and intelligent electronic control are the key areas of development. Only when all aspects of battery performance are improved can the endurance and safety of pure electric vehicles be more effectively guaranteed.