Chiller

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Coolant

The liquid pumped through cooling plates and heat exchangers, usually a roughly 50:50 mix of water and ethylene glycol that stays liquid to about −35 °C. It carries heat better than air or dielectric oils, but it conducts electricity, so a leak inside a pack threatens insulation resistance and can short live parts.

Fast charging

Charging intended to replenish a specified amount of energy or state of charge in a short time. There is no universal C-rate threshold: performance depends on cell chemistry, temperature, starting state and power limits. High current can increase heating and lithium-plating risk, requiring appropriate limits.

Heat exchanger

A device that moves heat between two fluids without mixing them, through thin metal walls with as much area as possible. In battery systems the main examples are the chiller, between refrigerant and coolant, and the radiator, between coolant and air; a cooling plate does the same job between cells and coolant.

Radiator

A finned coolant-to-air heat exchanger, usually behind the vehicle’s front grille, through which a fan draws air. It can only cool the coolant to a few degrees above the outside air, so it handles the battery in mild weather and the chiller takes over when it is hot or the charging load is high.

Refrigerant loop

A closed vapour-compression circuit: a compressor raises refrigerant pressure and temperature, a condenser rejects that heat to air, an expansion valve drops the pressure, and an evaporator absorbs heat as the refrigerant boils. Batteries draw on it through a chiller or through refrigerant plates that act as evaporators; R1234yf and CO₂ (R744) are the usual refrigerants.

Thermal management

Keeping cells in their comfortable range, roughly 15–35 °C, and within a few degrees of each other: liquid cooling plates, refrigerant plates or immersion for heat removal, and heaters or waste heat for warming before fast charging in the cold.

References & further reading

Further reading on this topic

These sources provide broader context; they are not presented as citations for every statement in this entry.

1. A General Energy Balance for Battery Systems

   Dawn Bernardi, Ellen Pawlikowski, John Newman · Journal of The Electrochemical Society · 1985

   Topic background · Battery energy balance and irreversible and reversible heat contributions. Reduced thermal models require explicit assumptions and current-sign conventions.

2. University Physics Volume 2, §1.6: Mechanisms of Heat Transfer

   OpenStax, Rice University

   Topic background · Conduction, convection, radiation and thermal resistance.