Flexible Simulation of an Electric Vehicle to Estimate the Impact of Thermal Comfort on the Energy Consumption

The energy consumption of electric vehicles depends not only on the traction energy but also on the thermal comfort energy. Some studies lead to the estimation of this energy consumption from real measurements on different driving and climatic conditions. However, those results rely on a large number of vehicle tests, which is time-consuming. Moreover, the impacts of the different subsystems cannot be differentiated in such global studies. A flexible simulation tool can help to analyze the impact of the different parts of a vehicle. This article proposes a multiphysical parametrized model of an electric vehicle, including the traction and comfort subsystems. A flexible model of a Renault Zoe is developed due to the energetic macroscopic representation. This model is validated by experimental tests of the real vehicle. Then, the impact of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) subsystem is studied for different driving cycles and climatic conditions. In very cold conditions, the use of the HVAC subsystem represents an increase of up to 248% of the total energy consumption, compared to summer conditions.