A Predictive Cabin Conditioning Strategy for Battery Electric Vehicles

This paper is based on the work presented at EVS36 in Sacramento. The core of the work deals with the cabin climate control of battery electric vehicles (BEV) using model predictive control (MPC) approaches. These aim to reduce the energy demand for cabin air conditioning while maintaining comfort and air quality. The first step briefly overviews model predictive control approaches and the respective fundamentals. Afterward, the modeling for the system dynamics is explained. The challenge for the system model considering humid air is discussed, and the first implementation method is presented. With the added equations for the air quality and humidity, a logic to prevent window fogging was developed to improve safety. Ultimately, model-in-the-loop (MiL) investigations identified an energy-saving potential of up to 15.4% for cold and 39.7% for hot conditions compared to a rule-based strategy. In addition, the investigations carried out showed that it was also possible to improve indoor comfort by specifically influencing the air quality and humidity. Together with the safety criteria introduced to prevent window fogging, it was possible to present a strategy that can significantly improve thermal management for the cabin in modern BEVs.