Energy consumption of electric vehicles in different climate and driving conditions

This research investigates the energy consumption of electric vehicles. The energy consumption is analysed based on simulation results in different climate and driving conditions. A complete vehicle simulation model was developed with a detail cabin and powertrain thermal management systems. The simulation model was validated against measured energy consumption presented in the literature. Simulations were carried out in several different driving cycles including a real-world highway cycle. According to the simulation results, a significant amount of energy is lost in tyres in all conditions. In extreme cold and hot conditions, the cabin thermal management consumes the major portion of the energy. Depending on the driving cycle, the energy consumption varied from 110 to 200 Wh/km at 20 ºC of ambient temperature. In cold conditions, the energy consumption was highest in low speed cycles being even more than 500 Wh/km at -30 ºC. The highest driving range was 190 km and it could reduce more than 70%in cold and 40%in hot conditions.