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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.

With the passage of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, HFC-134a refrigerant will be phased down in all markets worldwide, including those where automotive companies have been slow to embrace HFO-1234yf. Engineers are currently being challenged to design MAC systems using alternate low GWP refrigerants that are allowed by regulations, and are simultaneously cost-effective to manufacture, energy efficient, safe, reliable, affordable for consumers, and also suitable in electrified vehicles.