In summer, even at 40°C (111°F), if you park your car outdoors for just one hour, the seat temperature will quickly rise to over 60°C (111°F), making it incredibly hot to sit in. Even turning on the air conditioner beforehand can hardly bring the temperature down quickly. To enhance the driving experience, FerroTec has integrated thermoelectric  cooling technology (TEC) into car seats. This precise temperature control technology automatically adjusts the seat temperature, allowing drivers and passengers to park freely even on 40°C (111°F) days.

In the European and American markets, CCS-equipped seats (TEC hot and cold seats) are widely used in high-end models priced over 300,000 yuan - traditional automakers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Land Rover have been applying CCS systems for more than two decades. With its highly efficient cooling/heating performance, TEC hot and cold seats have won wide recognition from overseas consumers. In contrast, although the penetration rate of cold and hot seats in China is still at a relatively low level, in recent years, as young consumers have gradually become the main force in car purchases, people's demands for intelligent and comfortable configurations have been constantly increasing. Cold and hot seats, which were once regarded as "high-end configurations", are also accelerating their entry into the mainstream market.

The core technology of TEC hot and cold seats is not simply "blowing air", but rather the integration of three systems: Peltier effect cooling/heating, forced ventilation system and closed-loop temperature control. That is to say, it upgrades the traditional "blowing air" to "controllable cold air/hot air", directly converting electrical energy into a "controllable cold source/heat source" through a semiconductor cooling chip, and then precisely delivering the processed air to the human contact surface with a fan, solving the pain point of traditional ventilated seats that "only blow air without cooling".

According to market research, the market size of passenger car seats in China exceeded 111.9 billion yuan in 2023 and is expected to exceed 180 billion yuan by 2028. Among them, the penetration rate of TEC hot and cold seats is expected to increase from 5% to over 25%, making it one of the fastest-growing and most promising niche markets.

1. Compact structure: The semiconductor refrigeration chip has a compact structure, is easy to install, does not take up additional space, and is suitable for automotive scenarios with extremely high requirements on space and energy consumption.

2. Response speed : Traditional air conditioning requires circulation throughout the vehicle and has a slow cooling speed; TEC hot and cold seats can quickly cool a local area within 5 seconds, providing an instant cooling experience.

3. Energy consumption performance: Traditional air conditioners need to start the vehicle's compressor, which consumes a lot of electricity; semiconductor cooling chips only need to supply energy to the seats, which can save more than 30% energy compared to air conditioners.

4. High comfort: Direct cold air from the air conditioner can easily cause cold or dry skin. The TEC hot and cold seats can achieve uniform cooling, avoiding the discomfort caused by rapid alternation between hot and cold.

5. Support independent temperature control: TEC hot and cold seats can set the corresponding temperature according to the physical needs of different passengers to meet the personalized needs of users.

6. Intelligent integration: TEC hot and cold seats are combined with an intelligent temperature control system. Sensors monitor body temperature, humidity and other data in real time, and automatically adjust the temperature based on actual detection data, providing an intelligent driving experience.

Despite the promising market prospects for TEC automotive seats, they still face several practical challenges: first, high costs; second, frequent starts and stops can lead to thermal fatigue, impacting their service life and stability. In response to these issues, FerroTec Leading Thermoelectric has promoted the deep integration of the cooling plate with the seat foam layer, surface cover and other materials by optimizing the multi-level TEC structure and introducing intelligent temperature control algorithms, continuously enhancing the reliability and integration of the product, and achieving a lightweight "seamless embedding". At present, we can provide high-performance semiconductor cooling chips for various brand vehicles. The cost of a single cooling module is controlled at nearly a thousand yuan, which is only about three times that of traditional ventilated seats.

From "burning your butt" to "comfort as soon as you get in," TEC heated and cooled seats are gradually improving the driving experience. In the future, we will not only see more cars equipped with TEC heated and cooled seats, but also witness the deep integration of car seats and AI systems, creating a truly intelligent cockpit that "understands you."