The new Climate-Road-to-Rig test bench at FKFS was officially opened on 30 October. The event began with an opening speech by Prof André Casal Kulzer, Head of the Board Area Automotive Powertrain Systems at FKFS, who emphasized the importance of this innovative facility for vehicle development. Furthermore, he described the progress of the test bench and expressed his gratitude to all those involved for their dedicated collaboration and contributions to the successful realization of this important milestone for FKFS.
Following the speech, the invited guests were treated to an impressive opening of the test bench, which demonstrated the high technical standard and versatile application possibilities of the new system. Visitors were then given the opportunity to take a personalized tour of the facility and see for themselves its performance.
The Climate-Road-to-Rig test bench reproduces a real-world environment and allows functions, modules and components to be tested in combination. Highly dynamic wheeled machines allow any type of route to be realistically simulated - from city driving to mountain passes.
The vehicle is operated fully automated, which means that there is no danger to people even during extreme maneuvers, and exact repeatability of the tests is guaranteed. In addition, the test bench offers extensive possibilities for investigating borderline areas, such as how the powertrain and battery behave under extreme temperatures (from -30°C to +50°C) and whether the vehicle applications are capable of overcoming these challenges.
With the new Climate-Road-to-Rig test bench, FKFS is setting another milestone in the research and development of modern vehicle technologies and making a decisive contribution to improving the safety and efficiency of future vehicles.