A TESTING POWERHOUSE

Reducing product development time is among the industry's top priorities, particularly as vehicle makers transition into an electrified future. Waiting on the environment - climate, weather, terrain and the logistics of on-road testing - is a costly impediment when the program clock is ticking. For commercial-vehicle OEMs, the need for a comprehensive testing facility that offers complete seasonal independence and utmost process efficiency has been growing. The solution now is in service at Allison Transmission's new Vehicle Environment Test center in Indianapolis.

The 60,000-ft² VET, as it's known, is part of Allison's $400 million investment in engineering resources and new products this decade, including a new 95,000-ft² Innovation Center also based on the Indy headquarters campus. The VET is unique among U.S. Midwestern vehicle test facilities (and rare in North America) in having what some customers have called “an ideal combination”: two chassis-dynamometer-equipped environmental chambers capable of generating temperature extremes of between −54 degrees and +125 degrees F; full simulation of altitudes up to 18,000 ft (5,486 m) and duty cycles that are vital for regulatory compliance; on-board diagnostic (OBD) development; and vehicle performance optimization.