Passive thermal management systems using phase change materials (PCMs) provides an effective solution to the overheating of lithium ion batteries. But this study shows heat accumulation in PCMs caused by the inefficient cooling of air natural convection leads to thermal management system failures: The temperature in a battery pack operating continuously outranges the safety limit of 60 degrees C after two cycles with discharge rate of 1.5 C and 2 C. Here a hybrid system that integrates PCMs with forced air convection is presented. This combined system successfully prevents heat accumulation and maintains the maximum temperature under 50 degrees C in all cycles. Study on airspeed effects reveals that thermo-physical properties of PCMs dictate the maximum temperature rise and temperature uniformity in the battery pack, while forced air convection plays a critical role in recovering thermal energy storage capacity of PCMs. A numerical study is also carried out and validated with experiment data, which gives theoretic insights on thermo-physical changes in this hybrid battery thermal management system. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.