"Heat Tech Day": The name for the latest Hyundai-Kia event was well chosen, as it was about measures to combat heat as well as efficient heating. The company presented three technologies designed to increase comfort in electric cars in hot and cold weather.
A nano-cooling film for the windows should help in the heat, radiant heating should keep the legs warm in the cold and the Korean experts have developed a metal-coated glass to defrost the windows. All three technologies are already ready for series production.
Gallery: "Heat Tech Day" from Hyundai and Kia
A nano-cooling film applied to the vehicle windscreen is designed to help combat heat. Unlike conventional tinting films, the nano-cooling film not only blocks the infrared radiation coming from the sun (often called heat radiation), it also lets the heat out again. This is because the film consists of three layers: Two of them reflect the incoming radiation, the third emits infrared radiation of medium wavelength. This should then be emitted to the outside.
The film can be used together with existing tinting films without further impairing the light transmission. In a comparison, the Nano Cooling Film showed that it can reduce the interior temperature by over 12 degrees.
The second technology also has to do with radiant heat, although it is less suitable for the season: with the Radiant Heating System, a heating element emits radiant heat to the occupants' legs. This should warm the legs within three minutes in cold weather. This is said to save up to 17 per cent energy - presumably compared to normal room heating.
The heating element can reach a temperature of 110 degrees and is encased in a fabric that emits infrared rays. A safety system recognises physical contact and immediately lowers the temperature to prevent burns. A Kia EV9 shown at the event has nine heating panels, which are located on the steering column, driver's door and centre console as well as on the front passenger door and under the glove compartment floor. The radiant heating system is to be integrated into future models. Lexus already offers a similar system in the RZ (press release).
In the premium segment of the Lexus RZ 450e, an extra system for efficient legroom temperature control makes sense
The third system is useful in both cold and hot seasons. In autumn and winter, metal-coated glass helps to remove ice and moisture from the windows. However, unlike normal windscreen heaters, which work with thin tungsten wires in the windscreen, a 48-volt system is required to heat the windows - so it is not suitable for conventional combustion engines. An electric car is likely to require a step-down converter if the existing power electronics cannot be used for this purpose (as with the ingenious 400-volt step-down conversion of the 800-volt cars from the Hyundai-Kia Group).
With metal vapour deposition, the windows can be completely defrosted within five minutes at minus 18 degrees - significantly faster and more energy-efficient than with air conditioning. In summer, the metal coating also blocks at least 60 per cent of solar energy, thus reducing the need for cooling.The technology is to be used in future vehicles.
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The bottom line
Unlike in the early days, you hardly have to freeze in an electric car today, but temperature control efficiency remains an issue. The Hyundai-Kia Group's nano-cooling film is apparently supposed to provide better protection against solar radiation than tinted windows - if that is indeed the case, it would be a good idea.
We are more sceptical about the radiant heating system as it should work more efficiently than the room heating, but significantly less efficiently than the seat heating. This means that it is probably only a system for those who are particularly sensitive to the cold. We are also cautious about the third system: metal vapourisation can't do much more than a conventional windscreen heater, but requires a 48-volt system, which probably increases the outlay considerably.
Source: Kia (passwortgeschützt)