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Electric vehicles have never been more popular, yet fears around being left stranded by an exhausted battery remain a key reason why some car buyers resist making a purchase. Bigger batteries are not always the solution because of the direct link with higher costs and high impact on weight. A re-engineering of the most energy-consuming auxiliaries is mandatory and the thermal management function is on top of the redesign request list. Heat pump solutions are considered one of the best options to save energy and reduce the impact on vehicle range of heating and cooling functions, but the automotive application requires a careful definition of the system features to avoid unjustified increase of complexity as well as an unneeded system oversizing.

The CO2 emission regulations ask a dramatic fuel consumption reduction worldwide. In this scenario, the market penetration of BEVs and PHEVs is strictly related to their electrical driving range, which is strongly affected by the ambient conditions and the passenger comfort asking for an effective thermal management that becomes an opportunity for overcoming these barriers. In this context, a virtual analysis comparing different cooling and heating architectures has been conducted; efficiency and costs aspects have been considered as driving factors as well as the lay-out aspects and vehicle integration constrains which drive component selection and influence the performance. In order to perform a robust architecture comparison and obtain more reliable results, a vehicle thermal model has been developed. The model takes into account the main thermal load contributes and the simulations which have been performed considering different selected cases.

The use of reciprocating internal combustion engines (ICE) dominates the sector of the in-the-road transportation sector, both for light and heavy duties. CO2 reduction is the technological driver, considering the severe worldwide greenhouse commitments. In ICE more than one third of the fuel energy used is rejected to the environment as thermal waste through the exhaust gases. Therefore, a greater fuel economy could be achieved, recovering this energy and converting it into useful electric power on board. Financial benefits will be produced in terms of fuel cost which will rebound similar benefits in terms of CO2 emitted. For long hauling vehicles, which run for thousands of miles, frequently at fixed engine operating conditions, this recovery appears very worthy of attention. In this activity, an ORC-based power unit was designed, built and tested fed by a heavy duty diesel engine, so contributing to the huge efforts on going in that specific sector.