In this paper, a battery module coupling heat pipes and air-cooling for cylindrical battery is proposed, with heat pipes embedded in a heat spreader plate to efficiently transfer the heat to the external environment. The thermal performance of the battery module was studied both numerically and experimentally. To evaluate the thermal behavior of the battery module under different discharge rates and air velocities, detailed temperature distributions were obtained through numerical simulations. The results indicate that the maximum temperature and temperature difference of the batteries increase with the discharge rates from 1C to 3C and decrease with the air velocity from 1m/s to 2m/s, all within 40 °C and 5 °C, respectively, meeting the design requirements. An experimental test setup for the battery module was established, and the test results were compared with the simulation results. Under discharge rates from 1C to 3C, the average relative errors between simulation and experiment were 0.60%, 1.10%, and 3. 39%, respectively, indicating high accuracy of the simulation model. Comparative studies were conducted on the temperature characteristics of battery modules with and without heat pipes. The results show that the maximum temperature and maximum temperature difference of the battery module with the presence of heat pipes decreased by 4.92% and 19.41%, respectively, demonstrating the significant role of heat pipes in the thermal management of the batteries. The present study could offer new insights into thermal enhancement with air-cooling for automotive battery packs.