The waste heat recovery performance and energy consumption of PTC (positive temperature coefficient) heater in electric vehicles under subzero environments (-10℃, -5℃ and 0℃) were investigated. Based on the vehicle thermal management system of a commercial electric vehicle, an innovative waste heat recovery system was proposed to significantly reduce the energy consumption of thermal management system. In addition, rule-based control strategies were developed to control the fan, pump, proportional valve, and 4-way valve. The results show that waste heat recovery technique fully took advantage of the waste heat generated by the electric drive system. Heating from -10℃, -5℃ and 0℃ (ambient temperature) to 15℃, the waste heat recovery reduced the energy consumption by 209.5 kJ, 406.4 kJ and 460.0 kJ, respectively, compared with traditional methods.