Electric vehicles (EVs) are a cornerstone of the shift toward sustainable mobility, but challenges like energy efficiency and range anxiety remain significant hurdles. To better understand how innovation can address these issues, we spoke with Dominik Dvorak, a scientific technician at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH. His role in the MINDED project provides valuable insights into advancing thermal management systems for EVs. Below is our conversation with Dominik.

1. Your Institution

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH

2. Your full name

Dominik Dvorak

3. What is your role in the project?

Scientific technician

4. What are the main challenges the mobility industry is facing?

Heating up electric vehicles in winter consumes a significant part of the energy that has to be taken from the battery. Hence, it reduces the maximum driving range of the vehicle.

5. How is the MINDED project responding to these challenges?

Within MINDED, we develop a novel and innovative heating system for a minibus to drastically reduce the amount of energy required to heat up the vehicle cabin.

6. What research are you conducting at your institution and how is it applied in the MINDED project?

I’m used to developing systems in a virtual environment based on modelling and simulation. For instance, the operating strategy of the thermal management system will be elaborated based on the simulation models we create.

7. How do you collaborate with other partners in the MINDED project to achieve your goals?

We closely work together with all the other project partners to parameterize all required sub-components. We also hand over some specialized models to project partners so they can perform their work using the models we have developed.

8. How is your institution benefiting from participating in the MINDED project?

We can extend our knowledge regarding the thermal management of electric vehicles. The lessons learned in the MINDED project will be the basis for future projects dealing with similar topics.

9. How do you envision the results of MINDED contributing to a more sustainable world?

If the thermal management system consumes less energy, the maximum driving range of electric vehicles will be higher. Hence, the work we perform in the project acts against range anxiety. This will boost the willingness of people to buy and use electric vehicles, which, in turn, will reduce the emissions from burning fossil fuels.

10. Looking to the future, what impact do you think the MINDED project will have on the industry and society as a whole?

OEMs and people will see that current vehicles need to be optimized from a holistic point of view to achieve a higher maximum driving range with the same size of battery.

11. What do you like to do outside of work? Favourite hobbies or pastimes?

I love to spend time with my wife and my little son. I also like to move a lot and be very active, and I play the guitar.