Performance evaluation of propane heat pump system for electric vehicle in cold climate

•A propane heat pump system is proposed as a solution for electric vehicle.•The heating performance of the propane heat pump system was studied.•Different technical solutions have been compared.•Propane heat pump system will be the most competitive solution for electric vehicle. To solve the problem of driving mileage reduction for electric vehicles during winter resulting from high power consumption for heating and to deal with the global warming issues, propane heat pump is proposed as a novel solution in this paper for the first time. The heating performance characteristics of a mobile propane heat pump system for electric vehicles in cold climate under various operation conditions have been experimentally studied. Different technical solutions for heat pump are also compared in the research. According to the results, propane (R290) system is the strongest competitor at an outdoor ambient temperature above −10 °C among all the strategies while CO2 system may have small advantages when the ambient temperature is −20 °C. However, due to CO2’s poor cooling COP (Coefficient of performance) at high ambient temperature and its high operating pressure, propane heat pump system will be the most competitive solution for electric vehicles.