Daikin develops refrigerant for EVs it says lifts range by 50%

[TruckElectric]

Daikin plans to enter the automotive market with its new refrigerant, expecting changes to the supply chain with the shift to electric vehicles. (Source photos by AP and Reuters)
Nikkei staff writersJuly 7, 2021 18:12 JST

TOKYO -- Daikin Industries, Japan's top air conditioner maker, has developed a refrigerant for electric vehicles that can extend their range by up to 50%, Nikkei has learned. The company plans to commercialize the product by 2025.

Air conditioners use the heat generated by compressing the refrigerant to heat and cool the air inside the car. Daikin's new refrigerant has a boiling point of about minus 40 C, 10 to 15 degrees lower than the conventional product. That reduces the power required for compression.

Daikin believes that in an EV with the air conditioner running and operating in an urban area of Japan, a car with a range of 200 km on a full charge could travel an additional 100 km with the new refrigerant.


At present, the most common refrigerant for use in EV air conditioners is a product jointly developed by U.S. based Honeywell and Chemours. It costs around 30,000 yen ($270) per vehicle.

Daikin says it will "consider the price of the new refrigerant while looking at market prices." Increasing battery capacity enough to give an EV 100 km of additional range cost hundreds of thousands of yen (thousands of dollars), so automakers may find the new refrigerant attractive even at twice the current price.

The company has already developed the product, and U.S. industry group SAE International will verify its performance and safety under operating conditions.

Daikin is the world's largest air conditioner manufacturer by sales and the leading producer of refrigerant. But it is not currently in the automotive market. The company has decided to enter the market with its new technology, anticipating that the supply chain will change dramatically with the shift to EVs.

Global production of EVs is expected to rise to 11.84 million units by 2025, 5.3 times higher than in 2020, according to IHS Markit.

To extend the range of EVs, Toyota Motor and Panasonic are developing a solid-state battery with greater capacity than existing lithium-ion batteries. Daikin is racing to commercialize its new refrigerant as another way to improve EV performance.

SOURCE: NIKKEI Asia

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[John K]

Extend driving range by 50% by making the AC more efficient.

if I turn off AC, will my range double?

Still exciting, I think their formulas are skewing to stop and go traffic with barely any movement.

 

[TruckElectric]

That means that an EV with a range of 124 miles would be able to cover an additional 62 miles simply by using Daikin's new refrigerant.
In extreme temperatures, cabin cooling and heating eat up significant amounts of power from an EV’s battery. As a result, there are many gains to be made in terms of boosting driving range by making heating/cooling systems more efficient.

That’s where Japanese top air conditioner maker Daikin Industries comes in, as the company claims it has developed a refrigerant for EVs that can extend their range by up to 50%, with the product scheduled to go on sale by 2025.

It is obviously great news and, as the report from Nikkei Asia reveals, Daikin’s new refrigerant has a boiling point of about minus 40 C, which is 10 to 15 degrees lower than the product currently used by EV makers worldwide.

Since air conditioners use the heat generated by compressing the refrigerant to heat and cool the air inside the car, the new product reduces the power required for compression, freeing up more electricity for the vehicle to cover a longer distance on a full charge.

To be more specific, Daikin claims that in an EV with a range of 200 km (124 miles) on a full charge operating in an urban area of Japan with the air conditioner running, the new refrigerant could unlock an additional 100 km (62 miles) of range.

The Japanese company says it will “consider the price of the new refrigerant while looking at market prices,” according to the same report. Currently, the most common refrigerant for use in EV air conditioners, a product jointly developed by U.S. companies Honeywell and Chemours, costs around 30,000 yen ($270) per vehicle. Since the alternative to increase battery capacity to extend range by 100 km is much more expensive, automakers are likely to pay twice the current price for the new refrigerant without blinking.

Daikin has already developed the product, and U.S. industry group SAE Internationalwill verify its performance and safety under operating conditions. Interestingly, Daikin is not currently involved in the automotive market, despite being the world’s largest air conditioner manufacturer by sales and the leading producer of refrigerant. That will obviously change as Daikin will enter the market with its new EV air conditioner refrigerant by 2025.

By that year, global EV production is estimated to rise to 11.84 million units, 5.3 times higher than in 2020, according to IHS Markit.

https://insideevs.com/news/519703/ev-aircon-refrigerant-boosts-range/

 

[fritter63]

"cabin cooling and heating eat up significant amounts of power from an EV’s battery"

Ok, so they can increase practical range while using A/C. But certainly not increase your total range if not using any cabin conditioning.

 

[GnarlyDudeLive]

Uh, I can't fathom that those are anywhere near accurate numbers. Those improvement numbers have to be some edge case scenario where using it on some EV with the most inefficient heat/ac unit turned on*. Imagine a Tesla EV with the ac turned on now being able to get 400 miles of range, but only 300 miles of range with it turned off. LOL

*coasting down hill.

Maybe, maybe I could see it reducing the amount of electric draw of the AC unit by 50% thus increasing the range by some amount. I am thinking some article author heard some numbers and just came up with their own interpretation, which happens far to often.

 

[fritter63]

Imagine a Tesla EV with the ac turned on now being able to get 400 miles of range, but only 300 miles of range with it turned off. LOL

no, I think they’re saying that a 300 mile EV would get only 200 if using cabin conditioning, but 250 with their new coolant. (Just rounded numbers for example)

 

[GnarlyDudeLive]

no, I think they’re saying that a 300 mile EV would get only 200 if using cabin conditioning, but 250 with their new coolant. (Just rounded numbers for example)

Yeah, that was how I interpreted it as well in my "maybe" response but it is still not how I think it reads.

From above:
" To be more specific, Daikin claims that in an EV with a range of 200 km (124 miles) on a full charge operating in an urban area of Japan with the air conditioner running, the new refrigerant could unlock an additional 100 km (62 miles) of range. "

 

[Zenny]

Wonder if the refrigerant would require changes to an older system. Poss future Daikin retrofit recharge/recal kits…

 

[Crissa]

Wonder if the refrigerant would require changes to an older system. Poss future Daikin retrofit recharge/recal kits…

Yes, the system would need to be hardened to that temperature, and know what temperatures to kick over the pumps, and may need slight changes in the design of the compressor/boil pinch for the fluid dynamics.

-Crissa

 

[FutureBoy]

Has anyone seen anything about the "safety" of the new chemical? Does it have a green house gas effect? Is it safe to dispose of? Etc?

 

[Crissa]

Hard to know that when no one mentions what the chemical is. But presumably it would have to meet those requirements.

-Crissa

 

[FutureBoy]

If the chemical is safe to release, that alone might qualify it as a replacement for our current chemical solution. Isn't Tesla currently in a pickle at the German plant over coolant chemical in an "unauthorized" container?

Better efficiency would be a nice side benefit too. I'd assume that all cooling systems using the old chemical would need to be replaced in time or at least converted over.

 

[Crissa]

Tesla is in a pickle over erecting the tanks before they had the license to do so. They weren't connected to anything yet. They were putting in machinery before the building was finished.

-Crissa

 

[JBee]

Freons (CFC, HCFC) are a scam anyway just use hydrocarbon based refrigerants.

But I don't get how it can add 50% more range. The only way the numbers would work is on a small 2 seater city EV thing which uses nearly as much energy for driving as for cooling.

 

[Crissa]

But I don't get how it can add 50% more range. The only way the numbers would work is on a small 2 seater city EV thing which uses nearly as much energy for driving as for cooling.

Well, the slower you go, the more energy you use for climate control per mile.

And it is a Japanese company, most of their EVs are city cars.

-Crissa

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