Abstract <p>The transient impact response of piezoelectric structures in ultrafast heating condition is critical for lowering unwanted vibrations in the smart sensors/actuators energy harvester systems, whereas the experimental validated cubic-polynomial temperature-dependent material properties are still not considered on this topic. To address this issue, this paper aims to establish the Lord-Shulman (L-S) piezoelectric thermoelasticity model with the cubic-polynomial temperature-dependent material properties. To solve the nonlinear governing equations, the nonlinear time-domain finite element method is developed. The proposed model and numerical approach are applied to investigate transient thermo-electromechanical impact responses of two-dimensional orthotropic piezoelectric plate of crystal class mm2. Dimensionless results indicate that the cubic-polynomial temperature-dependent parameters greatly influence the nonlinear transient thermo-electromechanical responses, lifting the electrical energy harvesting capability and heat wave propagation in the orthotropic piezoelectric plate.</p>