The thermal management industry has three major technological routes running in parallel, with integration becoming the

2026-04-15

At the beginning of 2026, an authoritative industry organization released the "White Paper on the Development of Thermal Management Technology Routes", sorting out three mainstream technical routes in the current automotive cooling field and pointing out the direction for industry development. Among them, the global thermal integration route has become the preferred solution for mid-to-high-end new energy vehicles, large-scale energy storage and other scenarios due to its high efficiency and energy-saving advantages, and its market penetration rate is expected to exceed 50% by 2028.​

(Image: Comparison Diagram of Three Main Technical Routes in Automotive Thermal Management Image Description: Core differences and market application scenarios of traditional single-medium heat exchange, global thermal integration, and new passive thermal management technologies)​

According to the white paper analysis, the three technical routes have their own focuses: the traditional single-medium heat exchange route, with the advantages of "mature technology and low cost", is still the main choice for stock fuel vehicles and mid-to-low-end new energy vehicles, currently accounting for over 60% of the market; the global thermal integration route, through "multi-component integration and heat recovery" technology, improves heat exchange efficiency by more than 30%, and can realize energy coordination between battery cooling and cockpit heating, becoming a core configuration for high-end models; the new passive thermal management route (phase change materials, heat pipe technology) is in the frontier exploration stage, and will form a synergistic complement with the active route in the future, with its penetration rate in the auxiliary thermal management field expected to reach 40% by 2030.​

Behind the technological upgrading is the industry's dual pursuit of energy efficiency and integration. For component enterprises, it is necessary to accurately layout technical routes according to the target market: strengthen the R&D of integrated modules for the high-end market, optimize the energy-saving performance of traditional products for the stock market, and layout passive technology reserves to meet diversified market demands.