FRANCE
Iveco Bus has officially inaugurated its new E-Bench testing and validation facility, creating what it says is a unique facility in Europe that will play a key role in the energy transition. Located in the company’s R&D centre in Vénissieux, where the global headquarters of Iveco Group’s bus and coach activities is based, the E-Bench facility will allow testing of both individual components and complete vehicles in real driving conditions, simulating all types of missions and climates.
“We are proud to celebrate the completion of this unique and innovative project, which will allow us to further accelerate the development and market time of our vehicles equipped with the latest technologies and powered by diverse propulsions. It demonstrates to our customers that they are receiving clean, sustainable and efficient mobility solutions for their urgent energy transition challenges,” said Stéphane Espinasse, Head of Iveco Bus Commercial Operations and Product Management.
Fully operational since July, the facility has extensive testing capabilities with a roller dynamometer, climate bench, bench for individual components, complete HIL (Hardware-in-the-loop) bench for testing all components together, and is compatible with electric and hydrogen vehicles.
The new facility consists of interconnected cells that allow testing of vehicles; the main test cell can simulate the dynamics of the vehicle via two loading machines while simulating extreme climatic conditions and combining climatic functions of between -15°C and +55°C in all seasons. It represents a total investment of €6.2 million for Iveco Bus, including co-funding from the French Government through the ‘France 2030’ Future Investment Programme for the development phase of the project.
