ATS Group’s new EV testing facility to start operations in July

Automotive Test Systems Group (ATS), one of the largest suppliers of automotive testing equipment ranging from simulation to validation and vehicle durability, is setting up a new testing facility for electric vehicles in Bangalore.

The new EV testing facility, which will come up in Bangalore, will be operational by July 2021. ATS is expected to invest about Rs 40 crore in the next three years in the new unit. The new facility will have the capability to test EV batteries, electric motors, e-axle transmission and will house an ADAS application laboratory too.

The first clue to this new project came seven months ago, at Autocar Professional’s Two-Wheeler Conclave, when ATS Group’s Managing Director Ramanathan Srinivasan briefly revealed the plan. He had said, “We are bullish on e-mobility and are going to set up new EV test laboratories next year (2021). We have placed orders for equipment and machinery. We intend to provide end-to-end testing services, backed up by engineering services.”

With growing OEM investments in EV manufacturing, the company believes demand for testing EVs and components will come its way. What also helps is that Bangalore has emerged as an EV start-up hub. The new testing facility will have the flexibility in terms of adaption to different specifications, configurations and capacity for testing two-, three- and four-wheelers.

ATS says it will be able to assist OEMs to overcome complex challenges by improving upon time and reducing costs involved in testing by using simulations at a component level through to the entire powertrain and conduct tests in modelled real-world environment and scenarios.