Electric vehicle thermal management and safety apparatus

An electric vehicle (EV) heating system, comprising:

• an inverter having a plurality of switching devices for operating an electric motor;
• and
• a circuit coupled to one of the plurality of switching devices to:
• cycle operation of the one of the plurality of the switching devices between a first state and a second state, the first state being between fully-turned-off and fully-turned-on for a heating mode and the second state where the switching device is at one of a fully-turned-off state and a fully-turned-on state;
• operate the switching device to have a fully-turned-off state and a fully-turned-on state in a main function mode for the inverter;
• and
• cycle the heating mode and the main function mode for combined heating and main function operation of the inverter.

A method, comprising:

• operating each of a plurality of switching devices of a power supply system through a respective circuit;
• operating at least one of the plurality of switching devices of the power supply system through its respective circuit with the switching device at an intermediate state between fully-turned-off and fully-turned-on to produce heating;
• and
• cycling a main function mode and a heating mode through each of the respective circuits for combined main function operation of the power supply system and heating function operation.