IVECO BUS officially inaugurated its new testing and validation facility, called E-BENCH, in the presence of elected officials, public transport authorities, key account customers and partners on September 22nd. IVECO BUS is thus creating an innovative facility unique in Europe, located in the R&D center in Vénissieux, the global headquarters of Iveco Group's bus and coach activities.
E-BENCH is a real asset that will play a key role in the energy transition, which is the responsibility of all mobility players.
Vénissieux, 25 September 2023
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Stéphane Espinasse - Head of IVECO BUS Commercial Operations and Product Management and and Solène Grange - General Manager of Iveco France.
IVECO BUS, a leading manufacturer in sustainable mobility, is constantly innovating to offer clean and efficient transport solutions. To maintain its technological lead, IVECO BUS has chosen to equip its R&D center in Vénissieux with a testing and validation facility called E-BENCH, unique in Europe. Extremely versatile, E-BENCH allows testing of both individual components and complete vehicles in real driving conditions, simulating all types of missions and climates.
"We are proud to celebrate the completion of this unique and innovative project, which will allow us to further accelerate the development and market time of our vehicles equipped with the latest technologies and powered by diverse propulsions. It demonstrates to our customers that they are receiving clean, sustainable and efficient mobility solutions for their urgent energy transition challenges," stated Stéphane Espinasse, Head of IVECO BUS Commercial Operations and Product Management.
Fully operational since July 2023, E-BENCH has extensive testing capabilities with a roller dynamometer, climate bench, bench for individual components, complete HIL (Hardware-in-the-loop) bench for testing all components together, and compatibility with electric and hydrogen propulsion vehicles.
The E-BENCH consists of interconnected cells that allow testing of vehicles and, most importantly, functional models called SKATE. The main test cell can simulate the dynamics of the vehicle via two loading machines while simulating extreme climatic conditions and combining climatic functions (between -15°C and +55°C in all seasons). These constraints generate an airflow of up to 210,000 m3/h. The new E-BENCH project (facility and development) represents a total investment of 6.2 million euros for IVECO BUS.
The development phase of the project was co-funded by the French Government through the France 2030’ Future Investment Program, operated by ADEME, the French Agency for Ecological Transition.
