Mahle Powertrain and Vepro partner to accelerate sustainable solutions for motorcycles

The partnership will accelerate the creation of innovative solutions to the challenges faced by OEMs across the globe, particularly to drive mobility for a sustainable future.

Autocar Pro News Desk By Autocar Pro News Desk calendar 09 Mar 2023 Views icon13426 Views Share - Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to LinkedIn Share to Whatsapp

MAHLE Powertrain and Vepro, an engineering consultancy with decades of experience in motorcycle and light vehicle development, have agreed a technical partnership that will build on the United Kingdom’s continued re-emergence as a centre of excellence for motorcycle development and manufacturing.

The partnership will accelerate the creation of innovative solutions to the challenges faced by OEMs across the globe, particularly to drive mobility for a sustainable future. MAHLE Powertrain states that this is work it excels at, with its Northampton facility equipped with the world’s first motorcycle dynamometer that can offer climatic and altitude testing.

“World-famous and storied brands are increasingly choosing to base their development efforts in the UK, and together that makes us well placed to offer the complex range of services that motorcycle and light vehicle producers need,” said John Hollingworth, Sales and Marketing Director at MAHLE Powertrain.

“This year is shaping up to be an excellent year for the British powered two-wheeler and light-vehicle industry,” said Neil Wright, who founded Vepro after more than a decade working for global brands including Triumph Motorcycles. “That’s thanks to the rise of small, enterprising brands and start-ups, but also the return of famous marques such as Royal Enfield, Norton and BSA as they develop their R&D centres, often in the same area where it all began more than a hundred years ago. We’re delighted to be joining forces with MAHLE Powertrain to ensure the support these manufacturers need is always on their doorstep as well as offering support to OEMs further afield.”

Vepro’s experience with full vehicle development is complemented by MAHLE Powertrain’s expertise with vehicle powertrains, both for traditional internal combustion engines and eMobility. At the company’s state-of-the-art vehicle and battery development centre in Northampton, a purpose-designed mobile motorcycle dyno can be set-up in the facility’s various test chambers. There it can recreate climatic conditions ranging from -40deg C to +60deg C, humidity ranging from 10% to 80%, and simulate altitudes up to 5,000m (16,400 feet).

This unique capability drastically simplifies the development of powered two-wheelers by moving testing to a safer, more controlled environment, away from the challenges and dangers of the real world. By simulating such a broad range of environmental conditions, calibration and verification work can be completed in much shorter timescales, and without the need for expensive and time-consuming international testing regimes.

Lab-based testing also allows for greater repeatability and is particularly important when calibrating products for markets such as China where emissions standards are now among the most stringent in the world.

Standards for motorcycles and light vehicles generally lag behind those of passenger cars. That creates an opportunity to maximise the use of MAHLE Powertrain’s decades of experience in these sectors as technologies developed for larger vehicles filter down throughout the industry

RELATED ARTICLES
EVs drive new car sales in Europe, BEVs gain share in 25 of 28 markets in February

auther Autocar Pro News Desk calendar31 Mar 2023

The European new car market grew by 12% in February to just over 900,000 units, with the battery electric vehicle market...

SSAB launches new zero-emission steel

auther Autocar Pro News Desk calendar31 Mar 2023

SSAB Zero is a fossil carbon emission-free steel based on recycled steel and made using fossil-free energy, without carb...

Cipia to provide new Chery models with driver monitoring system software

auther Autocar Pro News Desk calendar30 Mar 2023

Cipia's Driver Sense software uses computer vision and AI to monitor the driver's state in real-time and detects signs o...