A comprehensive review on thermal management systems for power lithium-ion batteries

Lithium-ion batteries are extensively utilized in electric vehicles for its high energy density. However, safety problems caused by thermal runaway and performance degradation caused by abnormal temperature must be solved. Electric vehicles must adapt to hot and cold environments, which requires the battery pack to keep good performance at both low and high temperatures. A lot of investigations were reported in the last decade on the thermal management techniques of power batteries. To clarify the problems to be solved in the future, the research progress of battery cooling system and preheating system are thoroughly summarized and classified depending on the heat transfer media. Various thermal management technologies are evaluated from multiple perspectives, including production and maintenance costs, system simplification, heating or cooling efficiency, internal temperature gradients, safety, and adaptability. It will be a research trend to design a novel thermal management system incorporating multiple technologies by utilizing the advantages of various cooling and heating methods. •The governing equations of different modeling mechanisms are summarized.•The latest development of cooling system is introduced and evaluated from the perspective of heat transfer medium.•The preheating technologies of lithium-ion batteries are analyzed according to different heat sources.•The thermal management systems covering all temperature conditions were evaluated and summarized.