Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - February 2021 - 20

A TESTING POWERHOUSE
steadily growing priorities. Proctor
showed one of the VET's major assets in
this area: the AV900.
Made by AeroVironment, the AV900
is a multi-use, programmable device
designed to serve as a battery emulator.

It is a workhorse for testing and emulating energy storage and drivetrain components of large hybrids and EVs, including trucks, buses and military vehicles. Allison Transmission owns " a
number of " AV900s, with two currently

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TESTING FEATURE

located at the VET. One is mounted on
wheels for portability. Both are used for
battery charging and for delivering a
constant power supply.
" Our E-Axle development team wanted to test on one of our dynos, " Proctor
shared. " They can run 30 minutes to
one hour on the road, then they have to
shut the electric vehicle down to charge
the battery. This is where the battery
emulator really helped save time. The
team tested here; we were able to reduce their downtime by 40 percent by
eliminating their charging. We ran that
vehicle for six hours continuous, at 70
mph, on our dyno with no problem.
Those are the types of advantages we
can provide our customers. "
With EVs, the industry is heading to
higher voltages and higher kilowatthour requirements for more efficiency.
Each of the VET's AV900s are capable
of 250 kW and can be combined in
parallel to deliver 500 kW, either on
the dynos or in another test. " Moving
forward, we see the need for more capability with hybrids and EVs, " Proctor
said. " We can provide DC power for
EVs in any configuration needed, to
allow them to run continuous, making
the batteries' charge virtually infinite.
That eliminates time and cost in design
and testing. "
And although hydrogen-fueled propulsion systems weren't in the original
VET plan, they are quickly entering the
picture, Stamper said. " EV will be a
growing business for us, with the 'E'
coming from a variety of sources.
Hydrogen capability is not here at VET
today, but it's coming to fruition sooner
than later. We're exploring a bulk hydrogen-feed system into the test facilities to provide, like we do with EVs, a
continuous fueling capability. "
Still in its nascent stages, Allison
Transmissions' unique VET already is
shaping up to be a vanguard testing facility in North America.
For more information, go to
https://www.allisontransmission.com/
company/vet, and highlight the RFQ tab.
Contact Brad Stamper, Customer
Program Manager, at 812-343-1692;
brad.stamper@allisontransmission.com.

20 February 2021

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TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING

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Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - February 2021

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