Fiat Chrysler have brought a chill to their Michigan-based engineers – investing in a new cold-weather testing facilty.
The company is using its all-new 4×4 dynamometer (dyno) at the Chrysler Technology Centre for the extreme testing, the existing drive cell that houses the new dyno can be chilled to 40 below zero, and create wind speeds of up to 160km/h.
Testing is done in blizzard-like conditions in order to evaluate, among other things, how a vehicle performs when dense snow clogs its air intakes.
FCA invested US$2.5m to upgrade the existing climatic test cell. The upgraded drive cell consists of a new front dyno that can handle loads of up to 261kW, while the rear dyno operates at up to 485kW.
The climatic cells are capable of simulating the most frigid conditions to the extreme heat of the world’s hottest countries. Development in climatic chambers allows FCA to design and develop products to survive the harshest environments.
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