WMG unveils new £2m test centre

A NEW £2.28 million hybrid powertrain testing facility will be officially unveiled at the University of Warwick tomorrow.

The institute says its ‘Vehicle Engine Facility’ is the UK’s only purpose-built hybrid powertrain testing facility, for the automotive sector, that is not owned and operated by an individual automotive company.

The VEF facility will give businesses access to the state-of-the-art equipment and research support.

It will use two dynamometers with the ‘Texcel’ control system plus a robot driver to allow the testing of various hybrid powertrain designs and can test electric motors, gasoline, diesel, ethanol and bio fuel-based internal combustion engines.

The VEF also includes a battery simulator and full exhaust emissions measurement capability which will go towards providing strategies for evaluating the optimisation of a vehicle’s powertrain and how it will operate in the real world.

The VEF has been funded by Advantage West Midlands and European Research Development Fund, as part of the Science City Research Alliance’s ‘Energy Efficiency Project’.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, director of Warwick Manufacturing Group at the University of Warwick, said: “We are delighted to be able to bring the Midlands a facility that will enable the British based manufacturing companies to engage in low carbon engineering, which will be vital in helping improve products and compete on the world stage in low carbon technologies.”

Dr Ralf Speth, chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover, added: “This new facility further strengthens WMG’s applied research credentials and we look forward to benefitting from the work undertaken there, especially in the incredibly complex area of significantly reducing vehicle emissions.”

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