NOVELTY - The system (100) has a cooling manifold assembly interposed between two rows of cells. A coolant tube comprises a surface adjacent to one of the rows of cells and another surface adjacent to the other row of cells. A thermal interface layer is wrapped around the coolant tube, where the thermal interface layer comprises a set of pliable fingers extend away from the coolant tube. The pliable fingers are interposed between the surfaces of the cooling tube and the rows of cells. The pliable fingers are deflected by thermal contact with the rows of cells.    USE - Thermal management system i.e. battery cooling system, for use with a battery pack of a plug-in hybrid vehicle i.e. car, and an electric vehicle.    ADVANTAGE - The cooling tube allows a greater portion of a battery to be in thermal contact with the cooling tube and allows the separation distance between adjacent the cell rows to be minimized, thus improving heat withdrawal efficiency of the battery pack and improving the packing density of the battery pack. The cooling tube alternates coolant flow direction between channels, thus allowing heat transfer between opposing coolant channels, and hence providing uniform coolant temperature to the cells and improving overall thermal uniformity in the cells thermally coupled to a liquid cooling assembly. The material and design of the thermal interface layer improves thermal transfer between the batteries and the cooling tube and the coolant contained in the tube. The material has thermal interface electrically non-conductive, thus insuring inclusion of the cooling tube within the battery pack to prevent battery shorting.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - The thermal interface layer is comprised of a material selected from the group consisting of silicone elastomer blends and thermoplastic elastomers. The cooling tube is fabricated from a material selected from the group consisting of aluminum, aluminum alloy, steel or copper.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The drawing shows a block diagram of subsystems used in a thermal management system of an electric vehicle.    Thermal management system (100)    Cabin subsystem (103)    Drive train subsystem (105)    Battery subsystem (107)    Control system (109)