A thermoelectric cooling system (100, 200, 300, 900, 1100) comprising: a thermoelectric device (120, 230, 344-360, 600, 700, 915, 1120) electrically coupled with a power supply (220, 302, 314, 650), the thermoelectric device operative to transfer heat (780, 790) from a cold side (605, 730) to a hot side (640, 740) via a Peltier effect using electrical power from the power supply to create an effective voltage across the thermoelectric device; an air heat exchanger (130, 905, 1020, 1160) coupled with the cold side of the thermoelectric device and operative to transfer heat from air (170, 180, 960, 1180) in thermal contact with the air heat exchanger to the thermoelectric device; a heat sink (140, 910, 1010, 1150) coupled with the hot side of the thermoelectric device and operative to transfer heat from the hot side to a fluid coolant (150, 160, 920, 970, 975) in thermal contact with the heat sink; a temperature sensor (376, 378, RT3, RT4) that measures a temperature of air that flows through the air heat exchanger; a controller (190, 210, 985) that controls a flow of electrical power from the power supply to the thermoelectric device according to a measurement of the temperature sensor; a cooling compartment (110, 935, 1110) cooled by the thermoelectric cooling system in conjunction with a supplemental cooling system (920, 1170) of a vehicle; a fluid coolant loop (150, 160, 965, 970, 975, COOLANT LOOP) that circulates fluid coolant from the supplemental cooling system to be in thermal contact with the heat sink; and a coolant control valve (980, 1140) that controls a flow rate of the fluid coolant to be in thermal contact with the heat sink; characterised in that the thermoelectric cooling system is operative to maintain a desired measured temperature by transferring heat from the air heat exchanger to the heat sink via the thermoelectric device according to a heat conduction effect due to a temperature difference between the air heat exchanger and the fluid coolant in thermal contact with the heat sink when no electrical power is provided to the thermoelectric device from the power supply, and wherein the controller controls the thermoelectric device to be on and the coolant control valve (980, 1140) is controlled to be on during initial temperature pull-down and the thermoelectric device is controlled to be off after a steady state temperature range including the desired measured temperature has been reached when the thermoelectric cooling system operates in a refrigeration or beverage chilling mode where the desired measured temperature is above a freezing temperature. a thermoelectric device (120, 230, 344-360, 600, 700, 915, 1120) electrically coupled with a power supply (220, 302, 314, 650), the thermoelectric device operative to transfer heat (780, 790) from a cold side (605, 730) to a hot side (640, 740) via a Peltier effect using electrical power from the power supply to create an effective voltage across the thermoelectric device; an air heat exchanger (130, 905, 1020, 1160) coupled with the cold side of the thermoelectric device and operative to transfer heat from air (170, 180, 960, 1180) in thermal contact with the air heat exchanger to the thermoelectric device; a heat sink (140, 910, 1010, 1150) coupled with the hot side of the thermoelectric device and operative to transfer heat from the hot side to a fluid coolant (150, 160, 920, 970, 975) in thermal contact with the heat sink; a temperature sensor (376, 378, RT3, RT4) that measures a temperature of air that flows through the air heat exchanger; a controller (190, 210, 985) that controls a flow of electrical power from the power supply to the thermoelectric device according to a measurement of the temperature sensor; a cooling compartment (110, 935, 1110) cooled by the thermoelectric cooling system in conjunction with a supplemental cooling system (920, 1170) of a vehicle; a fluid coolant loop (150, 160, 965, 970, 975, COOLANT LOOP) that circulates fluid coolant from the supplemental cooling system to be in thermal contact with the heat sink; and a coolant control valve (980, 1140) that controls a flow rate of the fluid coolant to be in thermal contact with the heat sink; characterised in that the thermoelectric cooling system is operative to maintain a desired measured temperature by transferring heat from the air heat exchanger to the heat sink via the thermoelectric device according to a heat conduction effect due to a temperature difference between the air heat exchanger and the fluid coolant in thermal contact with the heat sink when no electrical power is provided to the thermoelectric device from the power supply, and wherein the controller controls the thermoelectric device to be on and the coolant control valve (980, 1140) is controlled to be on during initial temperature pull-down and the thermoelectric device is controlled to be off after a steady state temperature range including the desired measured temperature has been reached when the thermoelectric cooling system operates in a refrigeration or beverage chilling mode where the desired measured temperature is above a freezing temperature.