Battery thermal management of electric vehicles: A review and bibliometric analysis of liquid cooling methods

Thermal management plays a vital role in the operation of electric vehicle (EV) batteries, directly influencing their efficiency, safety, and market adoption. In real-world EV operation, inadequate thermal regulation can accelerate battery degradation and increase safety risks, highlighting the importance of effective battery thermal management system (BTMS) design. In response, extensive research explored liquid BTMSs for EV applications. Despite this growing body of research, a comprehensive overview that combines a critical review and a bibliometric analysis of EV liquid BTMS research remains scarce. This paper aims to address this gap by presenting a combined critical review and bibliometric investigation of recent trends and developments in EV liquid BTMSs. The review examines key aspects of liquid BTMSs, including system configurations, coolant types, performance enhancement methods, and hybrid configurations. The bibliometric analysis covers research and review publications included in the Scopus database from 2015 to 2025, extracted on the 29 th of October 2025. The technical review was updated separately to include selected 2026 publications. After screening, 472 publications strongly related to liquid BTMSs were identified. The analysis demonstrates continuous growth in the field with an annual growth rate of 40.97% and a low average document age of 3.19 years. China leads the research with 214 publications. Liquid BTMS keyword analysis highlights three main research themes: temperature control and coolant systems, EV applications and battery technologies, and battery modeling and simulation. Key research gaps include coupled electrothermal modeling and artificial intelligence-based predictive control. This review highlights recent advancements and research gaps that can guide future development of liquid BTMS design and optimization to improve EV performance and safety.