Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, and Renewable Charging of Electric Vehicles

Abstract

When all vehicles, including electric vehicles, complete a round trip and their tank or battery is charged to its initial state, the vehicles execute a thermodynamic cycle. This article uses a thermodynamic analysis to examine several characteristics and salient features of the energy consumed by electric vehicles. The computations on the convective heat transfer show that heat supply during cold days significantly affects the range of the vehicles and that the utilization of heat pumps with high coefficients of performance is of paramount importance in cold climates. The carbon dioxide emissions associated with the use of electric vehicles depend on how electricity is generated, and carbon dioxide emissions may increase, if the fuel mix of the electricity grid uses a high fraction of coal. The calculations also show that charging the vehicles during the working daytime hours entails large areas of photovoltaic panels, which are not available in typical metropolitan area garages. Also, that the fast-charging of large fleets of electric vehicles will cause spikes on the demand of electrical grids and demand-supply mismatches.