Validation of a 5-zone-car-cabin model to predict the energy saving potentials of a battery electric vehicle’s HVAC system

This paper presents a 5-zone-car-cabin model which is able to simulate the car cabin’s thermal condition depending on several influencing parameters. This includes the solar radiation, to which special attention is paid in this paper. In addition, a generic methodology for parameter optimization considering measurements on a reference vehicle is presented. Thus, a very high degree of determination of the model was achieved. This paper is motivated by the impact of auxiliary loads on overall energy consumption in battery electric vehicles. The further use of the model is intended to calculate the energy saving potentials of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system by reducing or increasing the target interior temperature. This is necessary for a predictive control of secondary consumers.