Desperate electric car owners turn to thermal cloak to boost range

Electric car owners could soon be turning to thermal cloaks in order to help boost their battery range.

The new cloak, developed by researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, is designed to keep electric cars cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

The hope is that the new cloak, which doesn’t require any outside power source, will mark the end of range anxiety for drivers.

Senior author of the study, Dr Kehang Cui, said the cloak was the car equivalent of a set of clothes.

Dr Cui explained: “The thermal cloak is like clothes for vehicles, buildings, spacecraft, or even extraterrestrial habitats to keep cool in summer and warm in winter.”

Known as the Janus Thermal Cloak, it has two main components, an outer layer that reflects sunlight and an inner layer that traps the heat inside.

After undergoing a thorough testing programme in Shanghai, the team found that the cloak dramatically reduced internal temperatures during the day and kept the car warmer at night.

Dr Cui told the MailOnline the results of the tests were “surprising”. Their results are particularly pertinent as the UK government grapples with how to stop people from buying a new petrol car or selling their current electric models.

Dr Cui said: “This is the first time that we could achieve warming above the ambient temperature by almost 7°C during winter nights.

“This is also kind of surprising to us—there’s no energy input or sunshine and we can still get warming.”

The reason why this blanket might be key to treating range anxiety is because of how batteries operate.

Batteries, whether in electric cars or smartphones, don’t like conditions which are too hot or too cold. These extreme temperatures can dramatically restrict both range and performance.

It’s why electric cars often have less range during the winter and summer months than they might do during the spring.

Public charging operator Osprey said electric car batteries operate at their best when the temperature is between 20 and 25 degrees.

Changing when it’s too hot or too cold can affect the chemical reaction inside the batteries, affecting how long it can take to charge the car.

Following their successful tests, some electric car owners might be wondering how much a blanket like this would cost.

Dr Cui said wouldn’t be drawn on how much the cloak would cost but said it could have several benefits including saving customers money on charging their electric car.

He said: “We don’t have an estimate of how much the cloak would cost.

“We are carrying out further field tests on a larger scale and analysis to translate the metrics and performance of the thermal cloak we tested in our paper to real-world economic benefits.”

These benefits could include “what percentage of battery life can we increase, or how much electricity and energy can we save annually if we apply the thermal cloak on a building. We hope to commercialise the thermal cloak soon.”