Korean researchers develop heat-emitting metal flooring material that can warm interior of EVs like ondol

An overview of electric vehicle heating technology developed by researchers at Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI). Metal fabric is placed on the floor of an electric vehicle to dissipate heat like ondol. Courtesy of the KERI

Korean researchers have developed a technology that uses the principle of ondol (Korean floor heating system) to warm up the interior of electric vehicles. They wove a wide cloth made of stainless steel into thin threads and laid it on the floor of an electric vehicle, and electricity flows through the cloth to generate heat. It is expected to be a way to cope with the decrease in driving distance of electric vehicles due to the operation of heaters in winter as it can emit warmth for a long time, just like ondol.

Dr. Lee Dong-yoon and his team at the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) announced on January 14 that they have developed a new heating method for electric vehicle occupants in winter, which is called “metal fiber cloth surface heating element technology.”

The battery performance of electric vehicles decreases in winter when the temperature drops, and if the heater is turned on, the stored electricity of the car is consumed faster. Unlike internal combustion locomotives that use engines, electric vehicles lack waste heat, so they must consume electrical energy stored in the battery for heating. This is why driving distance per kilowatt drops in winter.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the driving distance of an electric car in a temperature of minus 7 degrees Celsius is 57 percent lower than that of a temperature of 24 degrees Celsius. For this reason, the Korean automobile industry is interested in developing a technology that can solve the heating problem of electric cars while saving power.

The core of the research team's technology is not to heat the air with a heater and supply it into the car. Instead, it heats the floor of a car like ondol in a Korean house. Instead of the car seats where the passengers rest their buttocks, the entire underside of the car is covered with metal fiber cloth heating elements that are spread out like a blanket to generate heat.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.