Method and air conditioning unit for air conditioning an interior of an electrically driven vehicle

An air-conditioning device for a motor vehicle having an electric drive, which comprises a battery, a power device and an electric machine that is supplied with current from the battery and drives the motor vehicle, the air-conditioning device comprising:

• a heat pump arrangement having a low-temperature region, which is thermally coupled to at least one component of the electric drive and to the surroundings of the motor vehicle by way of an exterior heat exchanger, and having a heating temperature region, which is thermally coupled to the interior compartment of the motor vehicle by way of an interior compartment heat exchanger, and
• a control unit configured to:
• control the heat pump arrangement to supply heating energy of the heating temperature region of the heat pump arrangement to the interior compartment of the motor vehicle in response to a demand that the interior compartment be temperature controlled;
• make a first determination as to whether, at an operating point of the electric drive, heat losses generated by the electric drive are sufficient to generate heating energy to satisfy the demand for heating the interior compartment
• make a second determination as to whether, based on at least one of the exterior temperature and the air humidity, there is a risk of function-impairing icing occurring in the region of the low-temperature region and
• vary the operating point of the electric drive based on the first and second determinations, so as to control the generation of heat losses such that the temperature of the low-temperature region is, in steady-state or quasi-steady-state operation, controlled to a level which ensures that the heat pump arrangement can provide sufficient heating energy to satisfy the demand for heating the interior compartment.