Daikin which is the Japanese air conditioning major has revealed that it has developed an air conditioner that can help EVs extend their range by up to 50 per cent which is a huge gain. The report comes from Nikkei Asia, the Japanese financial daily. The report states that Daikin is preparing to commercialize the technology by 2025.
Daikin claims that it has a refrigerant that has a boiling point of 40-degrees Celsius which is 10-15 degrees lower than most conventional products. This means it draws lesser power for compression which helps in turn dramatically improve the range of EVs. Daikin has made a bold claim saying that a car that will give 200 kilometers of range in Japan could do 300 kilometers if it was outfitted with this AC.
The product is currently being verified for its performance and safety in operating conditions by the US industry group SAE international. Daikin, of course, isn’t just the biggest air conditioner maker from Japan but by sales, it’s the world number 1. Currently, it doesn’t operate in the automotive market, so this will mark its entry into the segment.
Currently, many automakers like Tesla make the HVAC system on their own. In fact, many times Elon Musk has mused that if Tesla were to commercialize its HVAC for home use, it would be class-leading because of the break through’s it has made to make sure the system doesn’t compromise either on air quality, cooling and range at the same time.