Betterfrost describes its tech as pulsed electro-thermal deicing, or PETD. With a combination of sensors and a directional application of heat, the basic idea is that Betterfrost melts just a thin layer of the ice to break the bond between it and the surface it's on. Once that's been melted to water, larger chunks of the ice slough off much more easily. You could call it concentrated penetration. By focusing on melting only a thin interfacial layer, this tech can defrost a windshield far more quickly than the conventional methods of air blasting.
The difference in time is staggering. According to Derrick Redding, CEO of Betterfrost Technologies, their technology typically takes 50 to 75 seconds to clear the glass for driving. This compares with 20 to 25 minutes for the same results by traditional HVAC systems. That's not marginal improvement. That's a complete reimagining of how deicing works.
The Physics Behind Instant Defrost
Conventional thermal deicing is effective but requires too much energy. Mechanical deicing requires less energy but is less effective, often leaving significant amounts of ice behind, and may also damage structures and accelerate wear. Every driver knows this frustration. Blast hot air for twenty minutes or scrape manually for fifteen. Both waste time and energy.
PETD achieves energy reduction by melting only a thin layer of interfacial ice, leaving the temperature of the environment unchanged. In conventional deicers, the heater is thermally connected to the ice, the structure, and the outside environment. This makes heat losses through conduction and convection inevitable to the point where the losses exceed by orders of magnitude the amount of useful heat needed to melt the interface.
Betterfrost's solution begins with low emissivity glass it sources from a supplier. Low-e windshield glass has a conductive transparent layer, typically silver or fluorine doped tin oxide. A busbar serves as the power conduit for the defogging and defrosting. Betterfrost provides a microcontroller which runs proprietary control algorithms. Their system provides high voltage power that's pulsed in a way to control how far heat can propagate from the glass surface. This is very fine pulsed control, less than 0.1 mm, because they don't want the heat to escape into the environment as that's just wasted.
The EV Range Problem This Actually Solves
Electric vehicles suffer uniquely in winter. Internal combustion engines waste so much energy as heat that cabin heating is essentially free. EVs don't have that luxury. Conventional HVAC systems were designed to perform in ICE vehicles and benefit from engine heat once the thermostat has opened. By comparison, HVAC power in an EV typically is generated by the propulsion battery and requires six heat transfers.
Betterfrost's technology can extend the driving range of a passenger EV by 38 km or 23.6 miles on average, a 5.5 kWh reduction, during wintertime thermal conditions. Derrick Redding told Automotive News Canada their approach uses 95 to 99 percent less energy than HVAC deicing. That's not rounding error. That's fundamental efficiency improvement.
The practical impact matters most in the morning. Your EV sits overnight covered in frost. Traditional approach? Run the HVAC system for twenty minutes draining 5 kWh from the battery. Betterfrost approach? Pulse the windshield for 75 seconds using minimal power. The difference compounds over an entire winter of daily commutes.
Applications Beyond Automotive
It works on other conductive surfaces too. Betterfrost has also been trying it out with airplane wings and coil tubes. There's a system on a computer chip that controls the process, which works in conjunction with low emissivity glass coatings that allow for electrical pulses.
PETD was successfully tested for a variety of applications including the deicing of airplanes, car windshields, bridge overstructures, glass roofs, commercial and residential icemakers, and windmill rotors. The tests demonstrated almost instant action along with up to 99 percent savings of the electricity required by conventional thermal deicers.
Outside of EVs, the technology can be used in refrigeration systems to defrost the conductive layer of evaporator coil tubes, saving up to 15 to 20 percent on energy use. Commercial icemakers waste enormous energy melting ice during harvest cycles. PETD releases ice in seconds rather than minutes, dramatically improving efficiency.
The Commercial Vehicle Advantage
The timeline may unfold faster for commercial vehicles which Redding considers a big value proposition because most commercial trucks are parked outside year round. Redding said the benefits would be amplified for trucks and buses compared to consumer vehicles, as they are often parked outside and must be defrosted frequently. A bonus is the comfort of the driver, as HVAC systems blow hot, dry air on their face, causing dry eyes. Betterfrost believes it is able to bypass that problem entirely.
Electric buses spend significant time idling while drivers wait for windshields to clear. That's revenue hours lost and battery capacity wasted. PETD eliminates the wait entirely, getting vehicles moving faster while preserving battery for actual driving.
When Can You Actually Buy This?
The innovative technology is likely three years from passenger EV production application. Betterfrost will collaborate with Japanese automotive parts company DENSO, with funding from the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network R&D Partnership Fund. It plans to demonstrate the fruits of the partnership at a Detroit auto show in April.
To integrate Betterfrost's solution, the company developed a microcontroller that can be added to EVs by automakers. The microcontroller contains the software that enables the pulsing on a car's windows. Automakers can use their current supply chain to do the power electronics. Betterfrost would provide the microcontroller or software on a chip that would go into the climate controller or body control module.
The integration seems straightforward. Low-e glass already exists. The microcontroller is compact. The real barrier is automotive timelines. Three years to production sounds optimistic until you remember that automotive development cycles typically span five to seven years. The fact that DENSO is involved suggests serious manufacturer interest beyond pilot programs.
The Research Foundation
According to Betterfrost, their solution defrosts and defogs electric vehicles' windshields with 20 times less power than current technology. Our system provides high voltage, pulsed power to the transparent, conductive layer inside of windshields, like low-e glass. Our solution is based on decades of research at the Dartmouth Ice lab, where they studied how ice forms, adheres to surfaces, and melts.
The physicists noticed that ice has a very strong bonding force on surfaces. If you break that bond, you create a thin film of water that slides off very easily. So you don't waste energy trying to melt the entire mass of ice, just focus your heat in a way that only reaches that interfacial layer to create that thin layer of water.
The principle is elegant. Ice bonds strongly to glass through molecular forces at the interface. Melt that specific interface and gravity does the rest. Conventional systems waste energy heating the entire ice mass when only the bottom layer matters. PETD targets exactly that layer and nothing else.
What This Means for Winter Driving
Nobody enjoys winter mornings spent scraping windshields or idling in driveways. Betterfrost's technology offers something genuinely better. Press a button. Wait 75 seconds. Drive away with clear glass and minimal battery drain. The improvement is so dramatic that it feels like science fiction until you understand the physics.
The EV range extension matters more than convenience. Buyers already worry about winter range loss. HVAC systems consuming 5.5 kWh per defrost cycle amplify those concerns. Remove that drain and suddenly winter driving becomes viable for trips that previously pushed range limits. The psychological impact of reliable winter range might matter more than the actual kilometers gained.
Three years feels simultaneously too long and remarkably fast. Too long because anyone who scraped ice this morning wants this technology yesterday. Remarkably fast because automotive development typically moves at glacial pace. The fact that DENSO and multiple automakers are involved suggests Betterfrost isn't vaporware or laboratory curiosity. This is coming to production vehicles before the decade ends.
Until then, keep your scraper in the car. But know that the last generation forced to waste twenty minutes defrosting windshields is probably already driving. The technology exists. The partnerships are forming. The physics work. Winter mornings are about to get substantially less miserable for everyone driving electric.
