Abstract Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries play an essential role in our daily lives and are considered the main power source in electric vehicles. The process of charging and discharging the battery continuously drives to a significant amount of heat generation which results in temperature differences, non-uniformity, and thermal runaway. An effective battery thermal management strategy (BTMS) is required to maintain battery temperature in the optimal range and thus ensure high performance, safety, and longevity of lithium-ion batteries. This study proposes a unique battery thermal management depends on using the jute as a plant-based, cheap, environmental, economic, renewable and lightweight fiber. Thorough experiments are carried out on a 50 Ah prismatic high-energy battery cell with an integrated evaporative cooling system and its effects on battery thermal behavior are studied. The maximum temperature, temperature difference, and temperature uniformity on the cell surface are compared under different conditions, which include natural convection cooling, forced air cooling, and evaporative cooling. The results confirm that using the jute for the proposed BTMS improves the efficiency of air cooling with a better temperature uniformity as well as reduced equipment and weight. This article represents the first attempt to analyze the performance of jute fiber as a cooling medium in BTMS. Thus, it contributes to improving the battery thermal management system air-based.