3 time more efficient in heat transfer rate to PTC
Hyundai Motor Company and Kia are planning to apply more high efficiency carbon nanotube (CNT) heaters for their next-generation electric vehicles.
The pair are collaborating with suppliers Kwangjin Wintec and Teraon in the development of the heaters.
The CNT heaters will be installed as default in premium EVs launching between 2024 to 2025.
The heaters are thought to be three times more efficient in their heat transfer rate compared to PTC heaters currently in use.
The change of heaters will allow the EVs to extend their traveling distances.
Hyundai and Kia have recently applied CNT seat heaters on the Ioniq 5 and EV6. The heaters were produced by Kwangjin, South Korea's largest maker of seat heaters.
Kwangin developed the heaters from 2012 to 2019 and began supplying them to the South Korean car brands last year.
It is also developing a CNT fiber plane heater, which can save cost by a third from the previous iterations.
The company is collaborating with Hyundai and Kia to apply this heater to Ioniq 6 and EV7.
Teraon, which SK Group made an equity investment in April, is also developing its own fiber plane CNT heater.
The company claims its heaters can heat up the seat up to 250 Celsius under 10 seconds at under 4 voltage.
Teraon is planning to build a new factory at Ansung during the first half of next year to expand its CNT production volume.
Woory Industrial and Jahwa Electronics, which are supplying PTC heaters to Hyundai and Kia, are also developing CNT heaters.
