Thermal management of battery energy storage systems: Challenges and AI-assisted solutions

Thermal management of battery energy storage systems: Challenges and AI-assisted solutions.The Innovation Energy 3:100141.Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are a cornerstone of net-zero energy systems, yet their safety, performance, and lifetime are fundamentally constrained by thermal management.Existing approaches primarily focus on internal cooling strategies such as air, liquid, and immersion cooling, while the thermal interactions between BESS and the broader energy system remain insufficiently explored.Here, we classify current thermal management technologies and discuss the emerging role of artificial intelligence in simulation, optimization, sensing, and control.We further argue that the substantial waste heat generated by large-scale BESS represents an underutilized energy resource.Integrating intelligent thermal management with waste heat recovery offers pathways toward safer, more efficient, and more sustainable deployment of BESS in future energy systems.