Ford to build ‘most advanced’ climatic test centre in Germany
Germany will soon be home to some of the hottest and coldest temperatures, most arid and humid conditions, hurricane force wind speeds, and highest altitudes to be found on the planet, courtesy of a new climatic test centre being built by Ford at its engineering centre in Merkenich, Cologne.
The US automaker believes the multimillion-dollar facility will be the most advanced test centre in the global auto industry when it opens “in the next few years”.
Construction on the project has already started.
The facility will feature two climatic wind tunnels capable of operating at wind speeds of up to 250 km/h, which is almost at the category 5 rating for hurricane wind speeds.
The test centre will also house an altitude laboratory capable of emulating heights above sea level up to 5 200 m – higher than the average height of the Tibetan Plateau, often described as the roof of the world.
“Around 50% of the vehicles we sell around the world are sold in areas that are more than 1 000 m above sea level, including regions like the Alps and Pyrenees here in Europe," says Ford Europe COO Barb Samardzich.
The climatic wind tunnel test centre will also feature four separate cells where cars can be cooled to temperatures of –40 ˚C, which pretty much represents Arctic conditions, to 55 ˚C, just 2.8 Celsius below the highest-ever air temperature globally recorded in the Sahara Desert.
In addition, it will be possible to adjust humidity in the centre from the driest desert conditions of 10% humidity, to the most humid of rainforests at 95%.
The new test centre will measure 5 500 m2 in size.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation