A zero-emission heating system for electric vehicles

The specific objective of this work is to design a space heating system for electric vehicles which has minimum weight, volume, cost and environmental impact relative to electric-resistance heaters and fossil-fueled heaters. A prototype of this system has sufficient capacity to meet the heating load of 800 W over a 5-hour period for an existing twenty-two-foot electric bus, which has been "winterized." Calcium chloride hexahydrate was chosen as the storage medium and the phase change material (PCM) was contained in high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles. Performance tests showed successful operation in general but a need to have better control of the rate of heat output. A solar thermal system was designed to provide energy to the bus heater for true zero-emissions. A solar collector with an area of 31 m(2) on the garage roof and an underground water storage tank of 6 m(3) were designed to provide the needed energy. A heat pump system was designed to transfer heat from the tank to the heat storage in the bus.