Engineering course
Thermal Management Academy
An engineering-level course on EV thermal management — heat transfer fundamentals, battery and powertrain cooling loops, heat pumps and refrigerant cycles, cabin comfort, and how it all behaves at the climate extremes. Built around cooling-loop explorers, thermal simulators, a virtual lab and fault-diagnosis scenarios.
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- Interactive battery and powertrain cooling loop explorers
- Refrigerant cycle and cabin thermal simulators
- Hands-on cooling optimisation virtual lab
- Real-world fault diagnosis scenarios
What you will learn
- Explain the three heat transfer mechanisms and why liquid cooling dominates EVs
- Read a battery and powertrain cooling loop and identify every major component
- Describe how a heat pump works and why it beats resistive heating
- Quantify the trade-off between cabin comfort and driving range
- Diagnose thermal system faults from real-world symptoms
- Predict how heat, cold, fast charging and towing each stress the thermal system differently
Course content
Module 1
Thermal fundamentals
Heat transfer, why EVs need active thermal management, and cooling media.
5 lessons
- The three ways heat movesConduction, convection and radiation, and which one engineers actually use. 9 min
- Why EVs need so much thermal managementFour separate heat sources with four different temperature targets. 10 min
- Coolant, air and immersion cooling comparedThree cooling media, and why the industry converged on liquid glycol. 10 min
- Thermal mass, lag and why systems overshootWhy a thermal system reacts minutes after the heat load changes. 8 min
- Measuring and modelling heat in a vehicleSensors, models, and the calculators engineers use daily. 9 min
Module 2
Cooling loops
Battery and powertrain loops, valve architectures and integrated modules.
5 lessons
- Anatomy of the battery cooling loopCold plates, pumps, chiller and radiator working together. 11 min
- The powertrain cooling loopCooling the motor and inverter, which run far hotter than the battery. 10 min
- Valves: the traffic controllers of the thermal systemThree-way and multi-port valves reconfigure the loops in real time. 9 min
- Integrated thermal management modulesWhy manufacturers are collapsing loops, valves and the heat pump into one unit. 10 min
- Diagnosing cooling loop faultsReading symptoms back to the failed component. 10 min
Module 3
Heat pumps
The refrigerant cycle, COP and waste heat recovery.
5 lessons
- The refrigerant cycle, step by stepCompressor, condenser, expansion valve and evaporator. 10 min
- Heat pump vs resistive heatingWhy moving heat beats making heat. 9 min
- Coefficient of performance (COP)The single number that describes heat pump efficiency. 9 min
- Waste heat recoveryTurning motor, inverter and even cabin-air heat into free warmth. 9 min
- Sizing and optimising a heat pump systemBalancing compressor size, valve complexity and real-world climate. 10 min
Module 4
Cabin comfort
HVAC, preconditioning, comfort vs range and defrost.
5 lessons
- How cabin HVAC actually worksBlend doors, recirculation and the sensors behind automatic climate control. 9 min
- Preconditioning the cabinWarming or cooling the car before you get in, for free comfort and a range benefit. 8 min
- Comfort vs range: the real trade-offQuantifying what heating and cooling actually cost in range. 10 min
- Defrost, defog and visibility systemsWhy defrost mode forces the air conditioner on, even in winter. 8 min
- Modelling cabin thermal comfortWhy 22 °C doesn't feel the same to everyone, and how systems compensate. 8 min
Module 5
Climates and diagnostics
Extreme heat, extreme cold, fast-charge limits, towing and field diagnostics.
5 lessons
- Operating in extreme heatWhat changes above 40 °C ambient, and how the car protects itself. 10 min
- Operating in extreme coldWhy range and charging both suffer, and what the car does about it. 10 min
- Fast-charge thermal limits in the real worldWhy the charging curve tapers, and how thermal limits interact with SOC limits. 10 min
- Towing and sustained high-load thermal managementWhy towing is thermally more demanding than any single acceleration event. 9 min
- Field diagnostics across climatesPutting it all together: reading symptoms in hot, cold and mixed conditions. 10 min