EV, Autonomous, and Traditional Vehicles

Accelerate into the Future with the World’s Most Advanced Automotive Test Services

With 28 labs in North America—and the industry’s top technical experts—GVIRL offers the world’s most advanced automotive testing services at a variety of locations. With expertise in electrical, autonomous, and traditional vehicle systems, GVIRL is able to provide customers with a one-stop shop for end-to-end automotive testing. Trusted by NASA and top automotive manufactures across the globe, GVIRL is able to simulate any condition to which a vehicle might be exposed. Plus, GVIRL delivers on-time test reports, best-in-class queue times, and deep technical expertise to ensure their products meet local and international regulatory requirements. Key automotive test services include the following:

• Lithium-Ion Battery Testing
• Dynamometer Testing
• EMI/EMC/ESD Testing
• Electro-Dynamic Vibration
• Environmental and Climatic Simulations
• Mechanical Testing
• Pressure Impulse Testing
• Emissions Control Systems
• Emissions Bench Testing
• Cat Age Testing
• Canister Load Testing
• Coatings & Paint Testing
• Gravelometer Testing
• International Approvals

Take a moment to contact us directly—and learn how we can accelerate market entry with customized and expert testing.

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Understanding Lithium-Ion Battery Testing

Lithium-ion battery testing and certification services are critical for electric vehicles (EV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), battery electric vehicles (BEV), and fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV). At GVIRL, the scope of testing conducted on lithium-ion batteries is exhaustive. Key lithium battery test categories encompass altitude, submersion, salt spray, humidity, HALT/HASS, thermal vacuum, dust, fungus, vibration, shock, drop, external short circuit, impact, seismic, penetration, overcharge, EMI/EMC/ESD, radio frequency emissions and immunities, imbalanced charging, forced discharge, export and import electrical transients, limited power source, steady force, mold stress relief, enclosure integrity, charge and discharge cycling, Dielectric voltage withstand, insulation resistance, continuity, fault analysis, continuous charging, CT scanning, pack construction, HV exposure, hazardous monitoring, abuse testing, puncture, crush, heating, fire exposure, enclosure integrity, battery design, construction, chemical composition, performance, ampacity, application, rollover, thermal stability, separator shutdown, passive propagation, and other related tests.

Understanding Dynamometer Testing

GVIRL’s dynamometer testing expertise encompasses practically every aspect of a vehicle’s drive train, including transmissions, transaxles, transfer cases, rear axles, U-joints, half-shafts, and complete driveline systems. Innovative on-stand conditioning can induce hot, cold, and special environments on any rotating component. A unique test exposes propshafts to hot, cold, salt/sand slurry, torque, and speed—all while monitoring the bearing temperatures with infrared cameras. Accessory drive components can be exposed to high rpms (up to 9,000 rpm), salt, hot, and cold with simultaneous performance testing.

Understanding EMI/EMC Testing

All contemporary vehicles, including traditional vehicles, are loaded with electronic components. As a result, electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnet compatibility (EMC) are critical for ensuring that a vehicle’s electronic systems and sub-systems perform optimally in a digitally connected world. As the undisputed leader in EMI/EMC testing, GVIRL provides access to the industry’s top experts for automotive testing—and it boasts the largest collection of EMI/EMC chambers in the Western Hemisphere, which include massive drive-in chambers at different labs. EMI/EMC-related services include electrostatic discharge (ESD), radiated immunity, conducted immunity, and more.

Understanding Electro-Dynamic Vibration

Driving creates constant vibrations on the vehicle’s frame and components. As a result, vibration testing puts the car through extremes to ensure durability. During vibration testing, ambient movements in the building can contaminate the results; but our facility does more, accounting for environmental movement by using high-mass bases and air-bearing pads. These devices ensure our results are accurate. Our testing equipment can exert up to 80,000 with shakers working in tandem, accommodating 60 data channels. Vibration testing helps you improve your component design by identifying weak points when the part gets subjected to random vibrations until failure. Because vibrations occur in all forms of transportation, safety and longevity of parts both rely on being able to withstand constant and erratic movements.

Understanding Environmental and Climatic Simulations

The environment plays a substantial role in the lifespan of automobiles and their components—and we’re able to simulate any environmental condition on earth. As a result, we put parts through environmental simulations to see how long the components last in hot, cold, dry, and wet conditions while also examining UV exposure mixed with salt, fog, dust, and humidity testing. In many areas, such as coastal locations or tropical location, the excessive moisture in the air could cause rusting of the car’s coatings, wearing of the vehicle’s paint or degrading of electrical parts. Because temperature and humidity tend to rise together, we often test both in tandem.

Understanding Mechanical Testing

Mechanical operations can wear over time and become less efficient. With automobiles that rely on both electrical and mechanical systems running at their peak for the vehicle to continue working, physical operation testing is critical. Automotive mechanical tests include examining engine performance and efficiency from a variety of systems. We conduct leak detection, fluid dynamics analysis, stress testing and more. Our testing ensures your engines meet or exceed the regulatory requirements without sacrificing the performance consumers need from your brand.

Understanding Pressure Impulse Testing

Pressure impulse testing puts your system’s hydraulic components through their paces. Multiple systems use fluid movement to create mechanical motion. Regular tests ensure the system maintains pressure and operates as expected for the anticipated lifespan. New designs or models should undergo rigorous testing to prove their performance level matches or exceeds the previous iterations. Pressure impulse testing can help measure the effectiveness of the hydraulic system. At GVIRL, our pressure impulse testing equipment can test both dynamic and static pressures—and include both rotary and linear servo-hydraulic actuators, reaching beyond 30,000 psi at 30,000 Hz. In addition to examining the impacts of stress during the test, we can also measure torque, strain, flow, and force.

Understanding Emissions Control Systems Testing

Reducing pollution is more important than ever. A single passenger car creates an average of 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. In addition to carbon dioxide, internal combustion engines also release other harmful substances. To mitigate the effects of these pollutants on the environment, the federal government has set standards for emissions. Engine components and emissions systems must be tested to determine the amount of greenhouse gases they emit. Without appropriate testing, polluting engines could net their manufacturers hefty fines from both the federal and local governments.

Understanding Emissions Bench Testing

The EPA continues to strengthen requirements for greenhouse gas emissions from on-road vehicles. A typical emissions bench test can measure the amounts of carbon monoxide, methane, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide. Adhering to the EPA’s requirements is critical to avoid fines—and requirements are likely to become even stricter over time to reduce greenhouse emissions. Bench testing of gaseous outputs from an engine can verify compliance to guide the manufacturer to make changes to the engine’s design.

Understanding Catalyst Converter Aging

As a catalytic converter ages, it becomes less efficient. The catalytic converter is an essential component of the emission control system. Some states have strict requirements for the catalytic converters that can be installed on cars sold in those places. Catalytic converter function is vital for the engine’s ability to adhere to emissions requirements, and premature failure of a catalytic converter could indicate a product that needs a redesign. These services can test a catalytic converter’s limits without waiting for the average 100,000 miles required to reach its typical lifespan. Additionally, catalytic converters age faster when oil leaks from the engine. The aging test, which is sometimes known as CAT testing, can see what happens to a catalytic converter over time with or without oil contaminating the system.

Understanding Canister Load Testing

Canister loading tests the filling and purging of evaporative emissions canisters. Testing the canister load and purge ensures the evaporative emissions system accurately cuts down on pollutants escaping from the fuel system. The ability of a canister to absorb and release fuel vapors is a crucial component of the evaporative emissions system. Without a canister that loads and purges appropriately, the vehicle will be more polluting and run much less efficiently.

Understanding Paint and Coating Tests

Paint and exterior coatings testing services is important for ensuring durability. At GVIRL, testers subject the paint to multiple stresses. Abrasion testing scuffs the paint to see the level of scratching the paint can withstand. The ability of paint to avoid showing damage from minor scratches is highly desirable for consumers as it increases the lifespan of the vehicle’s coating. Salt fog coating testing replicates the paint’s exposure to road salt or sea salt spray—a service that’s important for places with cold winters or coastal exposure. In addition, we put paint through 1,000 to 2,000 hours of rain and ultraviolet light exposure while simulating from high to low extremes to determine the paint’s strength. Finally, a variety fo chemical resistance tests are available to assess the paint’s response to automotive fluids such as antifreeze, coolant, windshield wiper fluid, oil, and gasoline.

Understanding Gravelometer Testing

Gravelometer testing is another means of measuring a coating’s resistance to abrasions. In a gravelometer test, the samples have 300 pieces of gravel heaved at them by the machine’s air pressure. How much of the coating gets chipped off determines the results of the test. We do our testing to ASTM and SAE standards, ensuring the final scores are trusted and accurate.

Understanding International Approvals

We help you secure regulatory approval in global markets—and we do it quickly. The process involves tracking changes in regulatory requirements and streamlining the process for entering international markets in order to avoid delays and duplicative testing. As a result, we provide you with a single-point-of-contact for entry into 180 countries, offer in-country representation, deliver globally recognized test reports, offer ongoing compliance tracking, and provide a compliance strategy for faster certification. View this animation, which provides you with tips on how we streamline international approvals.

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Why Do You Need Automotive Testing

You may find your products needing testing for several reasons—and none is more important that compliance with regulations. As a result, your products must meet safety or design requirements before you can sell to customers. To accomplish this, you need independent testing to verify your vehicle components meet base requirements. With that said, you might also want automotive testing for a variety of reasons. Common reasons for automotive testing include the following:

• Regulatory Compliance
• Lawsuit Prevention
• Environmental standards
• Competitive Advantage
• Design Test

Regardless of your motivation, the experts at GVIRL can help you achieve your goals with the most advanced independent testing available for the automotive sector. Take a moment to talk to one of our text experts—and discover how we can help you accelerate into the future.

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