Basic Motors believes EVs might assist enhance the common-or-garden heated windshield.

In a patent utility printed by america Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) on July 13, 2023 (and initially filed Jan. 12, 2022), GM describes a extra refined heated windshield design that will use embedded parts and draw energy from an EV’s battery pack to take away ice, mist, and different obstructions to imaginative and prescient.

Basic Motors heated windshield patent picture

Windshield heating is generally finished by blowing scorching air onto the windshield from inside vents. As with heating programs used to heat car cabins, that warmth can come from an internal-combustion engine or, in an EV, a warmth pump or resistance heater. Whatever the warmth supply, this methodology works comparatively slowly, initially clearing solely small areas the place the heated air first hits the windshield and figuring out, GM notes.

Embedding electrically conductive parts within the windshield can warmth the floor extra evenly, as a result of these parts could be unfold throughout the floor. In contrast to the defrosting grids used on rear home windows, it would not restrict visibility, GM claims. However in line with GM, the restricted energy accessible from 12-volt AC automotive accent electrical programs—the standard supply of electrical energy in an internal-combustion automotive—would restrict the effectiveness of such a system.

Basic Motors heated windshield patent picture

GM’s answer is to make use of DC present, which is produced by an EV’s battery pack. In line with the patent utility, the present can be fed by means of bus bars to a layer of conductive materials utilized to the floor of a bit of glass. Windshields are typically made with laminated glass, comprised of a number of layers, permitting the coated floor to be sandwiched between layers and radiate warmth outward to them.

Patented concepts do not all the time make it to manufacturing, however a heated windshield like this may very well be helpful not just for bettering visibility in wintry situations, but additionally doubtlessly for bettering EV cold-weather vary. Direct heating with heated seats—and even heated seat belts—is regarded as extra environment friendly than blowing heat air for heating car cabins. Maybe that precept can even work for windshields.