New heated seatbelt tech helps your EV travel further – here’s how it works

Automotive tech company, ZF, has designed a heated seatbelt which surprisingly will help your electric car travel further on a single charge.

The aim of the system is to make EVs less dependent on functions such as traditional heaters, heated seats and steering wheels which put extra strain on a vehicle’s battery.

The reasoning is that having a heat source closer to the body will be a more efficient way of warming up the occupants of the car, rather than relying on heating the entire cabin with hot air blowing out of various vents.

Using the toasty belts means the car’s heater matrix won’t need to work as hard to provide extra warmth throughout the interior. 

This is especially important with an electric car, which isn’t able to utilise wasted heat as you’d normally find with a combustion engine. 

Instead, energy is taken from the battery, which means this new tech could increase an EV’s range by up to 15 per cent, ZF claims.

The key advantage is that you’ll be able to travel longer distances, while saving money and making winter trips more bearable. 

ZF also claims there’s a safety advantage - whereby occupants are less likely to wear bulky warm clothing, which lets the belt sit closer to the body and perform its job more effectively if needed.

The design works via “special webbing with integrated heating conductors,” ZF says, although the belt shouldn’t feel much different, as it’s only slightly thicker than a regular belt. 

And, if you’re wondering - the belt is able to heat up to 36-40 degrees as soon as the driver sets off, so even those that really feel the cold in winter should be much happier.

So far there’s no word on whether any manufacturers are interested in taking up the new tech.