Summary

Evolving Thermal Architecture and Coolants

Battery: Cell-to-pack, thermal interface materials, fire protection, and immersion

The move towards increasing energy density and reducing costs has led to cell-to-pack or cell-to-body/chassis designs. Cell-to-pack eliminates module housings, stacking the cells directly together. Designs from BYD, Tesla, CATL, and others have made it onto the road, with more expected. In this report, IDTechEx considers how this trend will impact thermal management.

 

One major change is the application of thermal interface materials (TIMs), pushing in favor of thermally conductive adhesives to make a structural connection rather than the typical gap filler seen in many existing designs. This report forecasts TIM demand for EV batteries to 2036 in terms of mass and revenue, segmented by gap pad, gap filler, and thermally conductive adhesive.

 

Many material suppliers are tailoring their materials to provide multiple functions, including fire protection. This enables fire protection to be included without severely impacting energy density of the pack. These include inter-cell materials that provide compression, thermal insulation, and fire protection. This report gives an overview of the material options with a total forecast to 2035. For a segmented material forecast and a deeper dive into fire protection, please see the Fire Protection Materials for EVs report by IDTechEx.

 

Immersion cooling is a topic that retains interest in the EV market with greater thermal homogeneity proposing benefits such as faster charging and increased safety. The technology is still at an early stage in terms of automotive commercialization but has seen greater traction in off-road markets. This report takes a deep dive into immersion cooling technology, with benchmarking of fluids and suppliers, market announcements and partnerships, and fluid volume forecasts for EVs in automotive, construction, agriculture, and mining markets.

 

Motors

For electric motors, the magnets used in the rotor and the windings used in the stator must be kept in an optimal operating temperature window to avoid damage or inefficient operation. Water-glycol used in a jacket around the motor has been the standard thermal management strategy for electric motors in EVs. However, recent years have seen much greater adoption of directly oil cooling the motor to provide better thermal performance, and in some cases, eliminate the cooling jacket, reducing the overall motor size. Oil cooling became the dominant form of cooling for EV motors in the first half of 2022, but that's not to say that water-jackets are going away, they are often used in conjunction with oil cooling, and water-glycol coolant is typically used to remove heat from the oil and can be used to integrate with the vehicles thermal management strategy as a whole. IDTechEx provides forecasts from 2015-2036 for electric motors segmented by the use of air, oil, or water-glycol cooling.

 

 

Power Electronics

The adoption of SiC is the largest trend in the news for EV power electronics and with good justification. This has had an impact on the construction of power electronics packages. Developments are happening for TIMs, wire bonding, die-attach, and substrate materials, largely with the goal of improving package reliability. The report provides analysis of these trends and the drivers behind adoption.

 

Inverter IGBT or SiC MOSFET modules are mostly cooled using water-glycol. However, both single-side and double-sided cooling options are used, each with its own benefits. There has also been an increased interest in using oil to cool power electronics to eliminate much of the water-glycol componentry within the electric drive unit, using the same oil for the motors and inverter. Whilst there has not been adoption of this approach in the current market, IDTechEx sees promise for this approach and includes a 10-year forecast for EV inverters using air, water, or oil cooling.

 

 

Key Aspects:

Analysis of thermal management for Li-ion batteries, electric traction motors, and power electronics:

• OEM strategies
• EV industry trends and the impact on thermal management
• Trends in thermal management strategies, materials and fluids
• Emerging alternatives
• Fire protection materials
• EV use-cases
• Primary information from key players
• Company profiles

• BEVs with heat pumps: market share 2015-2024 and forecast to 2036
• EV refrigerant forecast (kg) 2015-2036
• EV oil forecast (L) 2015-2036
• EV water-glycol forecast (L) 2015-2036
• Air, liquid, refrigerant, and immersion-cooled BEVs and PHEVs (by kWh): regional market share 2015-2024 and forecast to 2036
• Immersion fluid forecast to 2036 for passenger cars, and construction, agriculture, and mining EVs
• Thermal interface material forecast to 2036 (in tonnes and revenue) split by vehicle category, and gap pad/gap filler/thermally conductive adhesive
•  Fire protection materials forecast to 2036 by inter-cell and pack-level protection
•  Air, oil, and water cooled electric motors for cars in China, Europe, and the US for 2015-2024
•  Air, oil, and water cooled electric motors for cars forecast to 2036.
•  Air, oil, and water cooled electric car inverters forecast to 2036.

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Table of Contents

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2. INTRODUCTION

4. INNOVATIONS IN CABIN HEATING

5. THERMAL ARCHITECTURE AND THERMAL SYSTEM SUPPLIERS

7. THERMAL MANAGEMENT OF LI-ION BATTERIES IN ELECTRIC VEHICLES

8. THERMAL MANAGEMENT IN EV CHARGING STATIONS

9. THERMAL MANAGEMENT OF ELECTRIC MOTORS

10. THERMAL MANAGEMENT IN ELECTRIC VEHICLE POWER ELECTRONICS

11. SUMMARY OF FORECASTS

12. COMPANY PROFILES