Imagine a Heated Seatbelt That Lets You Turn the Heat Down in Your EV

• At the CES electronics show in Las Vegas this week, auto supplier ZF is showing a Heat Belt—basically a heated driver’s-side front seatbelt.
• What’s the point? It lets EV owners keep their cabin heat turned down, potentially improving range during cold weather.
• As far as future vehicles that might have this innovation, ZF said no automaker has signed on yet.

Low temperatures and electric vehicles don’t play well together. The cold takes a toll on range, in part because electrons move slower when it’s chilly but mostly because heating up the cabin costs extra energy in an EV. ZF’s Heat Belt, announced at the 2023 CES (formerl known as the Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, is the automotive equivalent of a heated blanket, warming you directly so you can keep the thermostat a few degrees lower and save precious miles on your winter drive.

Woven into the Heat Belt are conductive wires that warm up to about 104 degrees Fahrenheit when activated. ZF says the wires add minimal thickness to the belt and that it works with existing seatbelt hardware. When combined with a heated seat and steering wheel, it could improve the cold-weather range of an EV by up to 15%. Which, on the one hand makes you wonder how much of that comes from just the heated belt. On the other hand, why not heat the front of your body along with your paws and backside? Forget range anxiety, some of us just like being cozy. And on that note, ZF points out that the Heat Belt encourages people to remove bulky winter coats, which helps the seatbelt fit better, enhancing safety in a crash.

Mercedes-Benz previewed this idea back in 2019 but never brought it to a production car, leaving the warmed armrest first seen on the S-class cabriolet in 2007 as the last major innovation in heated cabin surfaces. While the cost is similar to adding heating elements to a steering wheel, ZF says it doesn’t have an automaker as a partner for the Heat Belt yet, so we can’t say when you should expect this as an option.

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