The most advanced rolling road system of its kind in the UK is being built in Wales and will be capable of testing pure electric, hybrid electric as well as traditional internal combustion engine components.
The facility at Glamorgan University will be up and running next month and will form the centre piece of a new Centre for Alternative Powertrain Engineering that opens next year.
The news was announced yesterday at the opening of the UK National Low Carbon Vehicle Event, co-hosted by CENEX and the Technology Strategy Board at the Millbrook proving ground in Bedfordshire.
Earlier this year, the UK’s first Advanced Battery Development Facility was opened at the university, and last year, researchers there pioneered Europe’s first clean, green, zero-emission minibus powered by three different environmentally friendly technologies.
The main focus of the Centre for Alternative Powertrain Engineering is to work with industry on a range of knowledge transfer projects to help businesses in the sector develop innovative new products and processes and get them to market.
The Welsh Assembly Government has provided nearly £200,000 funding from its Academic Expertise for Business (A4B) programme to equip the centre with the advanced hybrid/electric powertrain testing facility.
The centre will provide the opportunity for research and testing of high-power AC and DC electric motors, microprocessors, speed controllers, super-fast rapid chargers, remote power systems, alternative future energies, electric drivetrains and high-capacity energy-storage technologies.
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