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General Motors says it can use your body heat to make its EVs drive further.
It’s part of the automaker’s Ultium electric vehicle platform, in which the system utilises heat pumps to recapture waste heat from the powertrain, ambient humidity, and even the car’s occupants to increase the range of the EV.
Doug Parks, GM executive vice president, Global Product Development, Purchasing, and Supply Chain, says “having a ground-up EV architecture gives us the freedom to build in standard features like Ultium’s energy recovery capabilities.”
“This helps us squeeze more efficiency, performance and overall customer benefit out of our EVs,” he adds.
To increase the efficiency of the propulsion system, the Ultium platform, which underpins the GMC Hummer EV, can capture the heat that’s generated by the power electronics and other propulsion components, as well as humidity from both inside and outside the vehicle, to make the vehicle drive further.
It also captures body heat from the car’s occupants to make cabin heating more efficient.
GM claims this allows the vehicle to go as much as 10 percent further per charge, as well as making charging faster as it preconditions the battery.
Keyword: General Motors can use your body heat to make its EVs drive further