Electric vehicles have the characteristics of energy saving and emission reduction, and it is an important research direction to develop lower global warming potential refrigerants for electric vehicle refrigeration systems. An experimental device for R290 electric vehicle compressor refrigeration system was set up to study the effects of variable compressor speed, evaporating temperature and condensing temperature on the R290 refrigeration system performance for the electric vehicle compressor. The results show that coefficient of performance (COP) and isentropic efficiency of the compressor increas with the increase of the compressor speed and evaporating temperature, but have a negative correlation with condensing temperature; when the compressor speed is greater than 3000 r/min, COP and isentropic efficiency increase slowly and tend to be stable. High compressor speed and pressure ratio are the important factors for the decrease of the compressor isentropic efficiency. The refrigerating capacity of compressor increases with the increase of the compressor speed and evaporating temperature, but has a negative correlation with condensing temperature. Under the same operating conditions, the compressor power consumption of R290 is larger, but its refrigerating capacity and COP are better than those of R134a, and the charge amount and discharge temperature of R290 are smaller. Therefore, R290 can be used as an alternative refrigerant for R134a in electric vehicle thermal management systems.