THERMAL SCIENCE

International Scientific Journal

Costica Nituca

,

Alin Dragomir

,

Georgel Gabor

,

Gabriel Chiriac

SIMULATED THERMAL RESPONSE OF A BATTERY PACK USED BY ELECTRIC TWO-WHEELERS

ABSTRACT
This article presents a theoretical investigation into the thermal behavior of a pack of 18650 lithium-ion commercial batteries used for the propulsion of two-wheeled electric vehicles. In the first part, we highlight the theoretical aspects that describe the energy balance of a cylindrical lithium-ion battery based on the law of conservation of energy. The research aims to emphasize the effect of temperature on the technical performance of batteries. Next, using the COMSOL Multiphysics 6.2 software package, "heat transfer in solids and fluids", the thermal behavior was modeled for a single cylindrical battery cell, type 18650 lithium-ion, 3.7 V, 2200 mAh, respectively a battery pack with the same type of cells, 18650 lithium-ion. The battery pack was made in the structure of 3 cells in series and 7 cells in parallel (3S7P). The distribution of the temperature generated inside the battery cell, respectively in the structure of the 3S7P battery pack, was taken into account, at a charge/discharge rate considered extreme of 5.5C. In order to ensure a quality mesh in the process of simulating the geometry of the 3S7P battery pack, a mesh convergence study was also considered through progressively finer runs until the temperature of the battery pack did not change significantly with the subsequent refinement of the mesh. Simulations of thermal behavior were conducted while accounting for thermal conductivity, density, heat capacity, and heat source in the batteries. The battery pack was thermally loaded to measure temperatures inside the protective case, starting from an initial ambient temperature. The results obtained demonstrate several characteristics that can enhance the technical performance of battery packs used in electric two-wheeled vehicles.
KEYWORDS
simulation, cylindrical lithium-ion batteries, thermal stress, energy transfer
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2005-07-24
PAPER REVISED: 2025-09-19
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2025-09-25
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2025-11-08
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI250724194N
CITATION EXPORT: view in browser or download as text file
THERMAL SCIENCE YEAR 2026, VOLUME 30, ISSUE No. 2, PAGES [1315 - 1326]
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Simulated thermal response of a battery pack used by electric two-wheelers

© 2026 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence