MissionH24 aims to demonstrate the performance and competitiveness of hydrogen technologies under real racing conditions, with the aim of creating a zero-CO₂ emission category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With the support of AVL Racetech, the plan is to develop the H24EVO prototype in a targeted manner.

Pierre Fillon, president of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and co-president of MissionH24, said, “AVL’s involvement alongside MissionH24 demonstrates the value of our program; the search for decarbonized solutions is essential. AVL’s established reputation in the automotive sector lends tremendous credibility to MissionH24. This collaboration promises to be invaluable.”

AVL Racetech will support the project as a technical partner, bringing its extensive experience in virtual vehicle development. A key element of this contribution will be the AVL VSM Race advanced vehicle simulation software. The fully dynamic simulation platform enables the virtual representation and analysis of complex interactions between the complete vehicle, the powertrain and the energy management system. It therefore reportedly supports the seamless integration of user-defined algorithms into VCU software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) workflows specifically designed to optimize the powertrain performance and energy management strategies of the H24EVO race car.

Jean-Michel Bouresche, CEO of H24Project and co-president of MissionH24, added, “AVL will strengthen MissionH24’s pool of technical partners, all of whom are recognized players in the automotive sector. AVL’s skills and expertise will undoubtedly enable us to achieve MissionH24’s ambitious goals.”

Looking ahead, the technical collaboration is planned to be extended from the virtual environment into full vehicle testing. The partners say that the alliance between AVL Racetech, H24Project and ACO as part of the MissionH24 program is a long-term commitment, with a partnership agreement for the next three years.

Ellen Lohr, director motorsport at AVL List, commented, “AVL Racetech is an established engineering partner in 17 top-tier racing series worldwide. We are connected with the MissionH24 by our shared vision of enabling sustainable motorsports and demonstrating that innovative technologies are tangible, feasible and competitive on the racetrack.”

In related news, Johnson Matthey opens cutting-edge hydrogen ICE test facility in Sweden

Martin Kaufmann, head of powertrain development at BMW, said, “Our goal is always to have more environmentally friendly and efficient vehicles on the road. With the diesel replacement fuel HVO100, we have an opportunity to reduce the CO2 footprint of vehicle fleets. Especially in the area of fuels that are not based on fossil fuels, we see potential that we are ready to realize.”

Bernhard Kuhnt, head of sales region Europe at BMW, added, “Fleet customers are extremely important for sales in Europe, and at the same time diesel remains a very good powertrain technology for many fleets. The use of HVO100 offers a way to quickly reduce CO2 emissions that takes into account individual use cases – whether driving long distances or towing a trailer – and can thus help our fleet customers reduce their CO2 footprint.”

Initial contractual agreements with the operators of large BMW diesel fleets in Germany and Italy are imminent, the company has said. These test fleets, together with the internal BMW Group fleet that has already been launched, will provide important data and findings to improve the technical solution.

Since January 2025, all BMW diesel models produced in Germany have been filled with HVO100 before delivery to dealers. Neste MY Renewable Diesel HVO100 is used at the BMW Group plants in Munich, Dingolfing, Regensburg and Leipzig.

The fuel from Finnish manufacturer Neste enables a CO2e reduction of up to 90% well to wheel, compared with fossil diesel. The initial filling at the plants before delivery to BMW Group dealers is five to eight liters, depending on the model.

Regulatory framework conditions must catch up

To accelerate the uptake of renewable fuels across the market, BMW is calling for the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) – including national quotas that require at least a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from fuels – to be transposed into national law by 2025.

Dr Thomas Becker, head of policy, external relations and sustainability at BMW, stated, “The BMW Group demands that every measure to reduce CO2 emissions is taken into account at every stage of a vehicle’s lifecycle. This also includes the use of renewable fuels – especially for vehicles that primarily run on CO2-neutral fuel (CNF). These must be formally recognized in EU fleet legislation. The fuels are available; what we need now is a pragmatic and quickly implementable regulation that enables companies to develop innovations and make them marketable.”

In related news, prototype production of BMW’s third-gen hydrogen fuel cell begins, with series production in sight

The Future of Automotive Testing Conference

This day of high-level content will explore various topics and provide an engaging opportunity to learn from and connect with industry peers. Situated among the exhibits, it will have a relaxing atmosphere, and visitors will be able to dip in and out at their leisure. A highlight will be ATTI’s on-stage interview with Jon Quigley, who worked for Volvo for many years and now runs his own company, Value Transformation. With his broad experience and portfolio of contacts, he’s a very good person to know. He loves sharing his thoughts, too, hence his new gig as ATTI’s regular columnist.

Read Quigley’s latest column on p36 of the September issue.

Also during the conference, Venkat Adusumalli, software engineering manager at Stellantis, will reveal how Stellantis is using AI to accelerate E/E system testing and validation workflows. Click here for a pre-show interview with him.

Innovation Showcase

The free-to-attend Innovation Showcase also provides an interactive platform for learning about new technologies. Speakers will welcome questions and discussion after their presentations, making it a great way to explore ideas together. Like the conference, it will take place within the main hall, so it will be very easy to listen in while wandering through the exhibits, or to come and go throughout the day.

Technology debuts

The industry is moving quickly and it can be a challenge to keep up. Every year there is an abundance of new technologies on display. Some are incremental improvements to existing products, others are entirely new. It’s always surprising how companies find ways around bottlenecks. Often, these developments emerge from ongoing conversations between supplier and customer, ultimately benefiting multiple companies.

Read ATTI‘s comprehensive expo preview in the September issue.

Face-to-face discussions  

It sounds obvious, but the most fruitful conversations are usually the ones that happen in person – it’s how journalists find the best stories. Year after year, exhibitors and visitors report having forged unexpected collaborations at the show, in the form of technology tie-ups or service partnerships.

Detroit’s revival 

A lot of money has been plowed into Detroit in recent years, as evidenced by the stunning renovation of Michigan Central Station, which is well worth a visit. Much of the investment has been in the tech sector. Eleven years ago – when the station was still derelict – ATTI took a tour of some of the labs at GM and what was then the FCA headquarters (see The right wave length, November 2014, Seasonal highlights, September 2015, and Powerbase, March 2015). The facilities were impressive then and are even more so now, thanks to several years of investment in innovation leading to Detroit’s resurgence as an automotive powerhouse.

Visit the Automotive Testing Expo North America website to secure your FREE pass, which will give you access to the expo, the Future of Automotive Testing Conference and the Innovation Showcase

The growth of a large-scale hydrogen economy poses challenges for measurement technology. Hydrogen diffusion and accumulation can cause material embrittlement, while infiltration into sensor elements may distort measurement accuracy.

Combustion engines operated with hydrogen or alternative H₂-based fuels are almost emission-free, paving the way for decarbonized mobility – with engine developers using hydrogen-resistant sensors to optimize hydrogen combustion – and Kistler’s hydrogen pressure sensor has been designed to support this mobility transition. The sensor can be used for gas exchange analysis as well as pressure measurement in the low-pressure fuel supply rail of hydrogen engines.

The 4012A sensor enables hydrogen pressure monitoring in the low-pressure range of fuel cells, with piezoresistive absolute pressure sensing available in two ranges: up to 20 bar and 50 bar.

In related news, Comemso electronics has launched SmartCal, a solution for calibrating and adjusting its in-house battery cell simulator (BCS)

The opening ceremony for the eCampus facility at its Stuttgart-Untertürkheim headquarters in Germany was attended by German federal minister of economic affairs Robert Habeck and Baden-Württemberg minister-president Winfried Kretschmann.

The eCampus will develop new chemical compositions and optimized production processes for high-performance battery cells. The facility encompasses the entire product and process chain of cell development and production, enabling the development of expertise for economical manufacturing processes.

Mercedes says it is investing €14bn (US$15bn) in 2024 into research and development and its plants, with a large portion allocated to battery and electric drive system advancements. These investments aim to strengthen Stuttgart-Untertürkheim as a high-tech location for drive technologies, and support the auto maker’s sustainability business strategy – the new facility has been constructed with recycled concrete and features a green roof and photovoltaic systems.

Ola Källenius, chairman of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz, emphasized the strategic importance of the eCampus: “The opening of the Mercedes-Benz eCampus marks an important step in our sustainable business strategy. It is our ambition to also play a leading technological role in electric mobility. The eCampus brings us closer to this goal. The work carried out here will help to reduce battery costs by more than 30% in the coming years.”

Focusing on various forms of cell chemistry, the facility will develop lithium-ion cells with high-energy anodes based on silicon composites and cobalt-free cathode chemistries, as well as solid-state battery technology. The aim is to develop cells with high energy density, fast-charging capability and superior performance.

Operations at the eCampus will start in two stages. The first stage includes a 10,000m² factory for industrial-scale battery cell production, which has commenced operations. The second stage, due for completion by the end of the year, will house a battery ramp-up factory for product and process development as well as a test and proving center.

The plant already produces flexible drive systems for both fully electric and electrified vehicles and is responsible for a large part of the group’s drivetrain R&D.

Robert Habeck, German federal minister for economic affairs and climate action, said, “High-performance batteries comprise the heart of the electrification of transport – and are the key to the successful transformation of the automotive industry. The demand for innovative and sustainable batteries will continue to rise sharply in Europe in the coming years.”

Markus Schäfer, member of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz and CTO, outlined the comprehensive R&D expertise at the eCampus: “At the new eCampus, we can pool and expand our comprehensive research and development expertise across the entire electric drive system even more effectively. This offers us new opportunities for sustainable innovations in cell chemistry.”

The forum will be a vibrant hub where enthusiasts, experts and newcomers alike can converge to explore, share and connect on all things automotive testing and development. You can expect discussions on cutting-edge analysis technologies and industry trends, and passionate debates. The program will offer an afternoon of high-level content and will be followed by the first-ever live ATTI Awards ceremony.

Here’s what’s in store:

2:30pm
Welcome

2:40pm
Panel discussion – Exploring the future of automotive testing
Moderator: Dr Huw Davies, senior lecturer at Coventry University’s Centre for Future Transport and Cities

Gemma Hatton, freelance technical writer
Phil Durston, technical manager, Volkswagen
Nils Katzorke, project manager, Mercedes-Benz

3:20pm
In conversation

Jahee Campbell-Brennan, director, Wavey Dynamics
• AI-driven simulation is revolutionizing vehicle development
• How to gain actionable insights by using AI in testing
• The challenges in adopting AI-driven testing solutions

Plato Pathrose, CTO and technical director, ADAS and AD, Vinfast Germany
• The key hurdles of connected, software-defined and autonomous vehicle simulation
• How to formulate a successful simulation program
• Mature simulation platforms vs the latest collaborative platforms

4:00pm
ATTI Awards ceremony
Drinks and canapés will be served.

For more information, visit the Automotive Testing Expo Europe website.

Petroleum and natural gas company Aramco is evaluating an investment in the new powertrain business, after signing a letter of intent with Renault and Geely in March this year. This would support the growth of the company and contribute to key research and development in synthetic fuels and next-gen hydrogen technologies.

Other supply chain partners are encouraged to get involved.

With an equal share in the new entity, a team from each of the OEMs will work together to lead operations: one in Madrid, Spain for Renault Group and one in Hangzhou Bay, China for Geely. There are plans to establish a new headquarters in the UK, which will be home to an executive team.

Renault Group and Geely will transfer intellectual property to the operational centers enabling them to be fully autonomous. The new joint venture’s complementary product portfolio and regional footprint could offer solutions for 80% of the global ICE and hybrid market, according to the companies.

Geely Auto and Renault plan to secure a long-term procurement agreement from the joint venture for ICE, hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains (engine and transmissions) for passenger vehicles. Renault will also procure powertrains for its light commercial vehicles and hybrid batteries. The new entity will supply several brands under the Renault/Geely umbrella: Renault Group, Geely Auto, Volvo Cars, Proton, Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors and Punch Torino. In the future, the aim is to provide complete powertrains for third-party customers as well.

Luca de Meo, CEO of the Renault Group, said, “Facing today’s automotive challenges, no one can claim to have all the solutions, alone. Coming up with breakthrough innovations requires combining expertise and assets. When it comes to the global race for decarbonizing road transportation, there is no time to lose, and it will not be business as usual. Today, we are proud to join forces with a great company like Geely to set up a new player, up to the challenge, able to disrupt the game and open the way for ultra-low-emissions ICE technologies. I want to thank Eric Li Shufu for his trust; we are now ready to move forward.”

Eric Li, Geely Holding Group chairman, commented, “We are pleased to be embarking on this journey to become a global leader in hybrid technologies, providing low-emission solutions for auto makers around the world. We are looking forward to working with Luca de Meo and his team. With this agreement, we reiterate our commitment to leveraging our group-wide technological expertise and brand portfolio to pioneer the journey to greater sustainability and value creation, which will lead to better consumer experiences.”

The e-fuel being tested is drop-in replacement, synthetic fuel produced from captured atmospheric CO₂ and renewable energy. Through the adoption of e-fuels, owners of ICE vehicles could easily and affordably reduce vehicle emissions without needing to purchase a new vehicle, fit any supporting upgrades or wait for new infrastructure to be built.

The 28 engine families – built from 2014 onwards – being tested and validated include both petrol and diesel variants. Testing is conducted on the powertrain’s tailpipe emissions, start-ability, engine power, reliability endurance, oil dilution and on the fuel tank, fuel lines and filters, among others.

If the 28 million vehicles fitted with Stellantis powertrains transitioned to the use of e-fuel, the manufacturer predicts that CO₂ emissions in Europe could be reduced by 400 million tons from 2025 to 2050.

“We are doubling down on our fight against global warming by testing carbon-neutral fuel as a complementary solution to our holistic decarbonization approach,” said Carlos Tavares, CEO, Stellantis.

“While we remain steadfast in executing our aggressive electrification strategy, we must also find smart alternatives to address the CO₂ emissions for the 1.3 billion existing ICE cars. By working to make sure our Stellantis engines are e-fuels friendly, we are aiming at giving our customers another tool in the fight against global warming and one that can have an almost immediate impact. It is also another action we are taking that is well aligned with our commitment to be carbon neutral by 2038.”

The tie-up will begin with a driver training day held by First Hydrogen and AVL at Horiba MIRA. Rivus will then test one of First Hydrogen’s LCVs for a month in the Birmingham and Sheffield areas of the UK. Rivus will run First Hydrogen’s vehicle on pre-planned routes. Telematics and onboard instruments will capture data on vehicle performance, efficiency and fuel consumption. The findings will contribute to First Hydrogen’s overall evaluation and mileage accumulation program. At the end of the trial, Rivus will produce an independent report on the hydrogen-powered LCV’s performance, which will be available to fleet managers and Rivus customers.

Steve Gill, automotive CEO at First Hydrogen, commented, “It is incredibly valuable to partner with Rivus for the first of our vehicle fleet trials. As highly regarded fleet specialists, we’re keen to receive Rivus’s feedback. The team will put the vehicle through its paces and test it under various duty cycles. Rivus’s input will help us optimize performance and will also inform our plans for future vehicle development and deployment. The team’s expertise will also help us support fleet operators to switch to zero-emission vehicles.”

Thomas Maerz, CDO at Rivus, commented, “We are delighted to be the first trial participants and for our drivers to test this first-of-its-kind, zero-emission commercial vehicle. Having this time to evaluate the vehicle’s capabilities will significantly add to our insight into alternative fuels, especially in the LCV class. In light of 2030 targets, this knowledge enables us to help operators with critical fleets that need to transition to zero emission. Providing this support gives our customers confidence in their transition and fuels our ambition to create a cleaner and more sustainable future.”

For more on hydrogen, please click here.

The Kautex Textron validation engineering team used Monolith’s self-learning models to solve a complex fuel “sloshing” problem, reducing design iterations, prototyping and testing costs. They were able to accurately predict fuel sloshing noise during vehicle deceleration, opening the door for engineers to use AI to solve further engineering challenges.

Predict fuel sloshing noise with unprecedented accuracy using a data-driven approach

Fuel sloshing noise prediction during vehicle deceleration has long been a difficult challenge for engineers to model, test and understand. However, the team at Kautex Textron has now successfully tackled this complex issue using Monolith AI software. By combining their engineering skills, acoustic data and AI technology, the engineers are now able to quickly understand the connection between tank designs, test parameters and sloshing noise, and accurately predict the expected noise level of new, previously untested designs in untested configurations (Figure 1). This ground-breaking achievement solving an intractable physics problem was made possible through the use of advanced AI software and the domain expertise of Kautex Textron’s skilled engineers.

Experimental testing can be costly, time-consuming and labour-intensive, especially if engineers need to conduct numerous studies to test each variable and rely heavily on physical prototypes. Traditional simulation methods like computational fluid dynamics (CFD) that are used for virtual testing can be expensive to implement and are based on complex assumptions. This is where data-driven methods come in handy. The data-driven approach offers a more efficient and cost-effective solution for conducting virtual testing.

Monolith AI software was used to load, explore and exploit the time series and 3D data, train machine learning models and make new predictions for unseen test scenarios, and find an optimal configuration. Adding 3D information to tabular models improved the results of predictions of a new design. With the actual results considering both the trend of the dB versus time curve and the level of difference between the prediction and test curves, the AI models can now be used to replace CFD simulations to predict the sloshing noise of a fuel tank with a new fill level.

Engineers create faster with AI

The core of the Kautex engineers’ challenge was to reliably understand the relationship between the properties of the fuel tank, the test parameters and the resulting sloshing noise – an intractable physics procedure typically requiring multiple physical tests with prototype tank shapes filled at differing levels. After exploring their data (Figure 2), the team created accurate AI models using acoustic test data, 3D CAD fuel tank shapes, and different inner component set-ups (Figure 3). These methods helped to gain new insights into complex product behaviour and create a toolchain that provides valuable predictions significantly faster than even the most state-of-the-art simulations can offer.

For the 3D model, the patent-pending autoencoder model in Monolith was trained using Kautex’s existing 3D CAD information by passing input data through its network layers (as shown on the left side of Figure 4). Autoencoders are a special type of neural network that, once trained, map high dimensional inputs, in this case 3D fuel tanks, into a lower dimensional parameterization that encodes much of the original information into a far smaller number of parameters. The autoencoder is able to reconstruct the original geometries at the end of the process.

Using Monolith AI software built specifically for engineering applications, one can efficiently use existing test data to build highly accurate AI models that instantly predict the performance of systems and explore a wider variety of operating conditions. This enables engineers to make optimal use of test facilities, reduce testing times and leverage decades of data, using AI recommendations for the best next conditions to test in.

By training AI on previous experimental test data, engineers can bypass the need for physics-based CFD simulations. The trained AI model can then directly predict the performance of a new unseen design, saving time and resources while fulfilling all customer requirements. Such models can also help test engineers by suggesting what the next tests they should perform are.

Monolith, a no-code AI software, uses engineering test data to build highly accurate AI models that instantly predict the performance of systems in a wider variety of operating conditions. This enables test engineers to make optimal use of their test facilities, and reduces testing times using AI recommendations for the best next conditions to test in. This has environmental and financial benefits for organizations by saving costs of reducing the overall number of tests necessary to characterize complex system behaviour without jeopardizing product quality or time-to-market.

Read the summary and download the case study here.