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In perspective of the incoming CO₂ emission regulation, the on-board heat management is becoming even more relevant to assure the engine performance improvement minimizing the impact on the vehicle lay out, cooling drag and cost. The paper highlights the benefit of dual-level heat rejection system where the conventional front module is replaced by two coolant-to-air exchangers and where the charge air cooler and condenser are liquid-cooled. This approach allows to review the engine bay design allowing a deeper integration level: the charge air cooler can be integrated in the air intake manifold while the condenser can be placed near the compressor minimizing the tube lengths and refrigerant charge. In addition, the coolant thermal inertia reduces the temperature fluctuations of the engine intake air temperature.

The heating and cooling systems are an important issue in the development of fully electric vehicles (FEVs). On the contrary to vehicles with thermal engines, in FEVs there is almost no waste heat available for the heating of the cabin or for the window de-icing and defogging. The cooling of the cabin also demands a large amount of energy. Due to the high power consumption, the heating and cooling of FEVs is a compromise between thermal comfort and vehicle range. The aim of this work is to present the European project ICE (2010-2014) [1] which focuses on the development of an efficient air-conditioning and heating system based on a magneto-caloric heat pump and on a new system architecture to fulfill the thermal comfort requirements of an electric minibus. The system will be installed and demonstrated in a Daily Electric Mini-bus from IVECO-ALTRA.