The electric vehicle market is on fire. But there are details that go unnoticed and could be the key difference between what you want and what you get: EV battery cooling. Even more so now that we keep seeing electric vehicles among the most likely to catch fire.
Although range, fast charging and design grab the headlines, keeping batteries at an optimal temperature is what ensures safety, performance and the lifespan of the vehicle. It’s something to keep in mind too.
Tesla, Ford and GM have developed different solutions to solve the same problem. While Tesla uses tubes that snake between the cells, Ford and GM have opted for cold plates at the base of the battery. Each strategy has its advantages, and all aim at the same thing: preventing heat from damaging one of the most expensive and delicate parts of the car.
Heat: the worst enemy of EVs
Yes, it’s one of the main concerns when it comes to electric vehicles. Lithium-ion batteries tend to overheat quickly, and when that happens, performance drops, and so does battery life, of course. Sometimes, as we said, they even catch fire (with fatal results…). That’s why thermal management has become just as important as the engine itself.
The first EVs, like the original Nissan Leaf, used air cooling. Basically, they relied on the air passing through to do the job. Today, that sounds almost naive. Most manufacturers have now switched to liquid cooling, which is much more effective. It uses a closed-loop system with coolant to keep temperatures under control.
This is how Tesla does it:
As always, Tesla went its own way. Instead of using cold plates like other brands, they decided to insert tubes that literally snake between the battery cells. Like little cooling veins. Over time, they’ve refined the system: in the Model S, for example, the coolant no longer runs through large blocks of cells but through smaller groups. That way, they can control the temperature more precisely.
And not just that: they also improved the contact between the tubes and the cells themselves, so the heat dissipates better. It’s a very integrated system, very Tesla, with that style of inventing everything from scratch.
Ford and GM go for cold plates
Ford and General Motors, on the other hand, went for a more straightforward solution: the well-known cold plates. They place metal sheets right at the base of the cells (where most heat builds up, at the anode), and those sheets transfer the heat to the liquid cooling system. It’s a very efficient method and takes up less space.
Ford also uses aluminum casings on the batteries to help even more with heat dissipation. GM took this system a step further in models like the Hummer EV, where they use the same setup not just to cool, but also to preheat the batteries when maximum power is needed.
Which system is better?
There isn’t one that’s better than the other. Each has its pros. Cold plates are more compact and allow for direct cooling (which improves energy density), but Tesla’s system is more flexible and fits perfectly with its cylindrical 4680 batteries.
In any case, what’s clear is that liquid cooling has won the battle. Manufacturers that continue to rely on passive solutions will fall behind compared to those investing in advanced thermal management.
Batteries don’t cool themselves. And if it’s not done right, they degrade, perform worse or simply break. That’s why Tesla, Ford and GM are investing as much in managing heat as in squeezing out more power. Because as flashy as 0 to 100 in three seconds may be, what really keeps the electric revolution alive is all that invisible system working underneath, making sure the heart of the car doesn’t melt, right?