ZF has revealed a heated seat belt for electric cars called… the Heat Belt

German company ZF has revealed its latest innovation and it is called the Heat Belt. In news that’ll surprise nobody, this innovation is a heated seat belt. Say it like you see it, after all.

The principle remains as per heated seats and heated steering wheels – in cold weather situations, it's more efficient to heat smaller elements rather than the entire cabin in order to preserve the battery’s precious range. Because as you all know, cold weather can hit an EV’s range by up to 30 per cent.

So ZF’s Heat Belt – which surely needs its own TV series with a name like that – features small heating conductors woven directly into the belt structure like threads, and is able to heat up “immediately”. Moreover, ZF reckons this Heat Belt can boost a car’s cold-weather range by up to 15 per cent.

We’re told the “contact elements for the electrical heating circuits are positioned in such a way that they do not interfere with either the operation of the belt or the retractor”. Which is handy, as getting scalded while accessing the most vital of all a car’s safety features would be sub-optimal.

ZF reckons the Heat Belt can be used for proper series production because installation and the thickness of the belt remain as per Non-Heat Belts. And of course, it’s still a belt – “the heated seat belt is in no way inferior to its conventional counterparts in terms of crash behaviour,” says ZF.

No doubt next on the list: the arm-roast and hand-bake. Feel free to add your own expert innovations below…