On Nov. 3, the Politecnico di Torino presented the CARS-HEV infrastructure for the testing of conventional, hybrid and electric vehicles built by the CARS Interdepartmental Center and co-financed by the Piedmont Region thanks to the European Regional Development Funds POR-FESR 2014-2020 with an event titled "Towards the sustainable vehicle era" organized by the Politecnico in collaboration with FPI Fondazione Piemonte Innova, Mesap, Polo di Innovazione Meccatronica e Sistemi Avanzati di Produzione and AVL Italy and moderated by Professor Carla Fabiana Chiasserini, the Rector's delegate to Alumni and Job Accompaniment at Politecnico. Guido Saracco, Rector of the Polytechnic of Turin and Piedmont Region's Councillor for Environment, Energy, Innovation and Research Matteo Marnati, spoke at the meeting for opening remarks. The CARS infrastructure was presented by project coordinator Nicola Amati, while Paola Bosso, a member of the Board of Directors of the Polytechnic of Turin, reconstructed the strategic motivations behind the university's support for this initiative.
During the meeting, the activities of the Center for Automotive Research and Sustainable Mobility CARS and the innovative Hybrid/Electric powertrain and Vehicle Test Facility were described, and collaborations with JRC-Joint Research Center, Stellantis and AVLwere presented as best practices, with speeches by Giorgio Martini, Deputy Head of the Transportation Unit of the Energy, Transport and Climate Joint Research Center, Alessandro Coda, Head of Tech Scouting and University Partnerships at Stellantis and Franz Leitner, Director of Powertrain Engineering at AVL Italy.
Professor Matteo Sonza Reorda, Vice Chancellor for Research at the Politecnico, concluded by presenting the opportunities offered to companies in the sustainable mobility sector thanks to the funds that will come to the Politecnico di Torino through the PNRR-National Plan for Recovery and Resilience and that also include cascading calls for companies in the area.
At the end, a guided tour was organized in which the Center's coordinator, Professor Nicola Amati, illustrated the characteristics and potential of this excellence, as well as the possibilities offered by the Polytechnic's Research and Innovation Infrastructure, where companies and regulatory bodies can have access to equipment, resources and services used by the scientific community to conduct research, promote innovation and implement regulations. Indeed, the infrastructure enables test cycles required by international standards as well as non-standard driving cycles, such as those acquired from road testing to validate energy management system control strategies by measuring fuel consumption, efficiency and emissions.
Professor Sonza Reorda commented, "With this new and highly advanced facility, the Politecnico di Torino has been able to better target the available resources, seizing the opportunities offered by the Region of Piedmont's INFRA-P call for proposals to support the creation of new open-access research infrastructures, through which to boost the socio-economic development of the area in a public-private cooperation perspective."
(Source: PoliFlash News)
