Overseas News

Driving through an aerodynamic wind tunnel

Dv Multimatic Motorsports has completed an initial aerodynamic evaluation test at Catesby Tunnel, a newly-opened aerodynamic testing facility owned by ARP (Aero Research Partners). It is the first facility of its kind in the UK and only the second in the world.

In order to perform a full correlation check, the team ran its Mazda DPi race car through the tunnel at speeds of up to 120mph, comparing the results to a comprehensive set of data previously gathered from 40 percent scale and full-size wind tunnel testing, as well as Computational Fluid Dynamics development and five years of competition in IMSA’s top level championship. Initial results indicate a high level of correlation to that existing performance data. The Catesby facility began its life as a dual rail Victorian railway tunnel, with the first steam locomotives running through it in July 1898. “Compared to conventional wind tunnels, this is better because it’s real,” said Multimatic Motorsports boss, Larry Holt, explains. “In a moving ground plane wind tunnel, the car is stationary and the wind is blown over it by a massive fan and flow conditioning set-up, and a belt is arranged to move under the car at a coordinated speed. It’s a very sophisticated configuration but the car is still stationary and that constitutes the not totally real piece. What Catesby facilitates is the measurement of the aerodynamic performance of a vehicle actually moving through the real world. “The problem with a car moving through the real world is that it is subjected to influences like gusting wind, rain and other changing environmental conditions that effect air density; all of the variables that come with testing in the real world. “Catesby provides the real world without the weather. You have a moving car, a real road surface, a controlled environment and we can run 24 hours a day, whatever the season. It is a perfect 2.7kms of controlled atmosphere. That’s the kind of consistency you need when you are chasing incremental gains.” Located just a few miles from Daventry in rural Northamptonshire, Catesby Tunnel, is situated in the UK’s Motorsport Valley and just a short drive from Multimatic Motorsports’ UK headquarters in Brackley. Holt understood the advantage of the tunnel before it was completed and has locked down a significant amount of Catesby’s available tunnel time for development of future race, road and the incredible track-day cars created by Multimatic Special Vehicle Operations.

Toyota to invest billions in electric vehicle batteries

Toyota plans to invest US$7.7 billion dollars to produce more batteries for electric cars in Japan and the United States. With this investment, Toyota will increase its battery production to 40 gigawatt hours in the two countries, starting from 2024.

Over the past few months, Toyota has been working hard to electrify its cars. Last December, the group said that all of its new vehicle sales in Western Europe would be zero-emission models by 2035. It comes as the company’s former research and development 3.6-hectare site opposite Monash University’s Clayton campus was sold back to the university for $66 million. The land holding was closed in 2016 when Toyota made the decision to stop local manufacturing in Australia. “Toyota intends to continue its efforts to build a supply system that can steadily meet the growing demand for BEVs in various regions, including the supply of automotive batteries from its partners,” the company said in a statement. The move will help ensure crucial supply as the company continues the roll out of its electric-only models in global markets – the dedicated electric vehicle BZ4X SUV is now on sale overseas and expected to be available in Australia in 2023.

Tesla maybe manufacturing in Australia, maybe

Minister for infrastructure Catherine King said a local Tesla manufacturing plant would be “absolutely” welcome in Australia when releasing a consultation paper for a new national electric vehicle (EV) strategy.

The consultation paper seeks views on proposed goals, objectives and actions for the National Electric Vehicle Strategy, to ensure Australians can access the best transport technologies and help meet emission reduction targets. Minister King’s statement indicates the Federal Government’s enthusiasm to ramp up local car manufacturing, including manufacturing EVs, and reduce emissions in Australia. The paper stated, “Australians are being sold some of the highest emitting cars in the world. On average, new passenger vehicles in Australia have around 20 percent higher emissions than the United States, and around 40 percent higher emissions than in Europe. We need to catch up to the rest of the world when it comes to transport emissions.” The paper also notes ramping up local manufacturing as a key goal; other goals include making EVs more affordable, expanding EV uptake and choice, reducing emissions, and saving Australians money on fuel. Ms King’s comments come as Robyn Denholm, Tesla board chair, spoke about reviving Australia’s auto industry by manufacturing EVs. “Australia is in a unique position because we have the minerals here that other countries don’t have,” Denholm said to the National Press Club in Canberra recently. “The supply chains for the electric vehicle and the lithium-ion storage batteries that are key for renewable energy are being formed now. “I do think the private sector and government need to work together. I don’t think that incentives are required because most business people will see the exponential growth that’s going to happen over the next period of time in those minerals.” At the unveiling of the consultation paper, minister for energy Chris Bowen commented on realistic expectations of manufacturing EVs in Australia. “The economics of electric vehicle manufacturing are very different to traditional internal combustion engines, whether it’s full vehicles or those components of vehicles along the way,” Mr Bowen said. “And as I said at the outset, the more we have an electric vehicle market in Australia, the more that will support electric vehicle components and indeed, potentially more in due course – manufacturing.”

The best engineering colleges in the US

Lawrence Technological University Michigan

This 1932-established college is one of the best institutes for a degree in automotive engineering.

Georgia Insitute of Technology

Founded in 1885, Georgia Institute of Technology, or simply Georgia Tech, is among the top 5 engineering schools in the US.

Kettering University, Michigan

As one of the most consistently ranked places for engineering and computer science programs, Kettering boasts the #1 college by salary potential in Michigan. Kettering University’s Automotive Engineering Design under the Department of Mechanical Engineering is one of the institute’s most exciting programs for budding automotive engineers. Aside from courses in chassis/engine design, automobile performance, and transmission design, you also get exclusive access to facilities and labels like: • e-Design/e-Manufacturing Studio • Energy Systems Lab • Crash Safety Center • Advanced Engine Research Lab • DENSO International Dynamic Systems

Design Studio • The Center for Fuel Cell Systems and

Powertrain.

Heart Aerospace investing in battery driven planes

Heart Aerospace is investing heavily in the production of battery-driven planes in Gothenburg, Germany and expects to grow the company to 500 people within three years.

Together with airport owner Castellum, it is investing in a new campus for the electric aircraft industry at Säve airport. Heart Aerospace currently has 130 employees from 23 different countries, who are developing the firm’s first model, a battery driven regional plane for up to 30 passengers, ES-30. Heart Aerospace’s new facility at Säve airport, which will be called “Northern Runway”, includes new headquarters, a research and development centre, a prototype hangar, a test-flight hangar, as well as a final assembly hall. Säve has no commercial flight traffic, which gives the company good access to its own runway. The venture is perhaps the most exciting the European aviation industry has seen in decades with 21 established airlines, airport owners and leasing companies from around the world part of a board advising Heart Aerospace on the design of its concept. Air Canada and Swedish Saab announced that they are joining as shareholders.

UPSCALING AUSTRALIAN TRANSPORT INNOVATION: FROM LOCAL TO NATIONAL

Ian Christensen iMOVE Australia Managing Director

The iMOVE Co-operative Research Centre is now halfway through its ten-year term. The first five years have been characterised by strengthening interest from the transport sector in emerging technologies and the contribution they could make to Australia’s transport ecosystem.

With a mission to advance the development and adoption of technologies that improve Australia’s transport systems, through high impact R&D collaborations, we have focused on applied R&D that delivers implementable output. We congratulate our partners for initiating over 60 applied research projects last financial year. However, even with this success, we ask ourselves, ‘Could we do more?’ We are partnering with many companies and most state governments. Most of their initiatives are directed, appropriately, to their own objectives, but that leaves open the possibility in the future to combine initiatives into programs of national improvement. We see opportunities for national cohesion in key project areas. These could be achieved by extending existing work from a local focus to a national approach. In short, we ask: how can we upscale innovation to deliver national as well as local benefit? Connected and automated vehicles (CAV) present an immediate opportunity for such upscaling. We are celebrating the completion of Queensland Department of Transport and Main Road’s (TMR) Cooperative and Automated Vehicle Initiative (CAVI) which “… test[ed] cooperative and automated vehicle technologies that make roads safer and contributing towards our vision of zero road deaths and serious injuries on the state’s roads.” The success of this project now challenges us to consider how national adoption of this accident-reducing technology could proceed. iMOVE was an active supporter of the world-leading Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot, which was a core component of CAVI.

In this project 350 participants had their cars retrofitted with connected vehicle technology, enabling the cars to communicate with roadside infrastructure and transport management systems. Communication scenarios in the trial included Turning Warning for Vulnerable Road Users, Advanced Red Light Warning, Road Works Warning, Road Hazard Warning, In-Vehicle Speed advice, and more. Over the 12 months of the trial the participants undertook 2.7 million kilometres of connected driving, resulting in more than 49,000 driving hours, and 95,000 messages provided via the in-vehicle system. The impressive finding was that Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), as deployed in Ipswich, have the potential to reduce crashes by up to 20%. That figure alone presents a compelling case for further exploitation of this technology, and an extension to roads and intersections across the country. This is particularly so in light of the national road toll which has continued at 1100-1200 deaths per year for the last decade. “Australia needs to be bold and show leadership. We are morally obliged to make sound investments that can address the road safety pandemic, and without leadership, the market will not respond,” said Miranda Blogg, Director of CAVI. The good news is that work is underway in some other states to learn from the Queensland experience, but the bad news is that that current endeavours are fragmented and small scale. “Trials in other jurisdictions (such as NSW) were underway, so our team consulted with them to share their learnings (and ours). This enabled us to structure our efforts in a meaningful way to achieve the outcomes we intended,” said Blogg. Two states communicating is a good start, but upscaling to all Australian states and territories will be necessary to deliver the full national benefit. We already know that upscaling C-ITS will require significant resources and a broad range of expertise. The CAVI program included a number of individual but co-dependent projects addressing particular areas such as security, ‘high definition’ mapping and assessing current infrastructure for suitability for CAVs. Some of this expertise is in very short supply in Australia, and so it is incumbent on us to find a way by which those scarce resources can be deployed for the national benefit beyond the limits of the Ipswich trial. C-ITS is but one of many technologies that are being trialled across the transport system. Australia is large in kilometres but small in population so, to derive full benefit from all the research and experimentation underway we need to intensify our collaboration. And collaboration is something we will most definitely be encouraging at our upcoming iMOVE Conference 2022: Collaborating our way to a sustainable transport future, taking place in Sydney on 14 and 15 November 2022. We hope you can join us as we work together to create a better transport system.

iMOVE Conference 2022: Collaborating towards our sustainable transport future For more information visit www. imoveaustralia.com/imove-conference-2022/