The future's lab
BMW is shifting its vehicle-testing programme from the road onto the testbed, although the days of the automotive paparazzi aren't over yet
- Published: 28/05/2010 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: Motoring
BMW has opened a new vehicle-testing facility in Munich, Germany, aiming to reduce costs and speed up development time of new products in the pipeline.
With an investment of 130m (about B5.6bn), BMW also hopes to reinforce its position as a leading engineering firm with its so-called Environmental Technology Centre (ETC).
Highlights of the closed-room testing facility include three wind tunnels that can replicate various climate conditions all-year round. And with the help of digital imaging, times for vehicle assessment can be cut from five hours to as little as 5-10 minutes.
BMW hasn't revealed any cost-saving figures as the facility is still in its initial stages but it did maintain that any concrete results would only emerge after two years.
"All we can say is that it is the future," stressed one head engineer. "The management board was convinced [when we presented the project]."
Although many other car manufacturers already do a lot of vehicle-testing in laboratories, BMW says its aero tunnels are so sophisticated that none of our competitors can match.
Cars with up to 700hp can be tested.
The test chambers are capable of imitating temperatures between -30C to 35C and simulating environmental factors like snow, rain and sun. This allows engineers to conduct tests anytime of the year.
Conventional methods employed today include testing on selected roads and different times of the year ranging from the ultra-cold Arctic region to baking hot temperatures in the Dubai desert. These are said to be far more costly than the new method envisaged at ETC.
BMW says such testing is important to evaluate a car's reliability, especially for the heating/cooling system, engine calibration and safety features.
There is also a wind tunnel that can simulate conditions at altitudes as high as 4,200 metres. This is particularly important for testing engines with turbocharged technologies which have taken prominence over naturally-aspirated motors due to stricter emission standards.
Simulation of sunshine of up to 45%.
BMW has already turned to turbo engines for many of its applications, including the Mini brand. Existing turbo engines include inline-six and V8 petrol, as well as inline-four and inline-six diesel.
While there's a turbo four-pot petrol in the Mini, BMW sources have confirmed with Motoring that a longitudinal variation is being prepared for BMW's rear- and four-wheel drive models like the 1, 3 and 5-series, plus the X1 and X3.
"Actually, [this new facility] is also aimed at attracting other makers who do not have a facility of their own," admits one insider. "This may come in the form of what BMW and PSA (makers of Peugeot and Citroen) did with the 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine."
So far the PSA Group has relied on BMW's expertise on engine development, while the Germans took advantage of the French's parts purchasing clout.
It is now believed that BMW wants to seek more volume for its six-cylinder engine development, which could come in the form of another partnership with an outside brand.
Hybrid and electric powertrains will also become crucial in the future, and BMW already has agreements with General Motors (full petrol/electric hybrid) and arch-rival Mercedes-Benz (mild petrol/electric hybrid).
Despite the attractive equipment of BMW's ETC facility, real-world testing is still required due to several constraints. Simulating sandy or dusty conditions presents a problem to the testing equipment, according to one engineer.
Real-world testing could become a thing of the past.
As well, chassis tuning - a specialty of BMW - needs to be carried out in real-world conditions so that cars can be of most relevance to buyers, although that could change in the future.
"It could be possible in the future," said the engineer. "It [The ETC] has opened up many new ideas for us and could inspire more tasks [to be undertaken at ETC]."
Moreover, BMW stresses the importance of testing in both the lab (for objective results) and on public roads (subjective). It wants to ensure that different customers around the world would be getting the products they want.
An interesting part of ETC is acoustics lightweight design whereby vehicles are tuned artificially to satisfy varying demands of consumers.
For instance, the diesel drone of a 6-series coupe' could be heavily suppressed in order to allow a sporty note to come out from the car's audio speakers instead.
Although sound-engineering is not new, BMW is now experimenting with a multi-level of sound patterns for Mini.
ETC: AT A GLANCE
- BMW has invested 130m (about B5.6bn) into the new testing facility whose highlight is three advanced wind tunnels for testing both cars and motorcycles.
- The test chambers have rollers and body clamps that can accommodate front, rear and four-wheel drive cars of speeds up to 130kph. Tests for emission and fuel consumption can be taken at up to 200kph.
- Simulated conditions include temperatures of between -30C to 35C, altitude of -200 to 4,200m. Natural forces that can be replicated include snow, rain and 45% of sunlight.
- Digital imaging can help reduce vehicle evaluation from 5hr down to 5-10min. Duration of testing falls from 120min down to 75min. Between 3-10 cars can be tested each day.
About the author
- Writer: Richard Leu
- Position: Motoring Editor
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