Automotive Engineering - August 2024 - 15

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EXPERT Insight
Expert Insight Interview with Jonathan Drew of TÜV SÜD
TÜV SÜD is a global testing and certification organization based in Munich, Germany. In this edition of Expert Insight, we speak with
Jonathan Drew, senior director of TÜV SÜD Transportation Testing Group in North America, about how the company's labs interact
and how TÜV SÜD looks to the future. Drew has more than 30 years of experience in the automotive industry. For the last eight
years, he has worked in the testing industry, supporting automotive, truck, power sports, construction, agriculture, and aerospace.
Expert Insight: Let's start with
the various testing services that
TÜV SÜD offers. You support
customers throughout the automotive
value chain as they
develop and validate their components
and systems, right?
Jonathan Drew: Yes, our expert
testing group works from components
all the way through
full vehicle-level testing. We're
focused on four main areas:
* First, TÜV SÜD is the global
expert in EV battery testing.
We do development, performance
and safety/abuse testing
at the cell, module and
pack level for all series of
transportation industries, in
both the Detroit and Toronto areas.
leak-free components, especially
at ultra-high pressure.
This modular system was perfected
in Germany and can now
be deployed in other regions,
including North America, as the
fuel cell and hydrogen combustion
engine markets develop.
I want to go back to our BSR
Expertise Matters: Since 2009, we've been the leading
independent lab for EV battery testing in North America.
* Environmental testing of mechanical and electrical components,
including vibration, hot and cold temperature and humidity
testing, corrosion, altitude, and moisture and dust
protection. We have a long history of this testing and currently
have the largest and most capable vibration and multiaxis
simulation testing in the country.
* Next, we have two electromagnetic compatibility/interference
(EMC/EMI) labs in Detroit and Minneapolis, working
on component level, system level and full vehicle, including
a vehicle paired with an EV dynamometer.
* The final scope of testing is vehicle buzz-squeak-rattle
(BSR) testing. Our team has over 150 years of combined
experience in identifying and solving vehicle BSR issues
- those rattles and sounds that drive you crazy when you
hear them on your new car. We work with numerous vehicle
OEMs at their assembly plants, including with a portable
environmental 4-poster we call mCREST - the only independent
company in the world with such a capability.
Expert Insight: How does TÜV SÜD adapt its testing capabilities
to address new technologies? Do you have specific testing
methodologies or protocols that you've developed to
evaluate the safety and reliability of these technologies?
Drew: TÜV SÜD is 160-year-old global testing company with
automotive expertise in North America, the UK, Germany, Italy,
Korea, China, and Japan, just to name a few. We have a number
of global working groups put together to ensure that we're
sharing the latest developments, specifications and test protocols.
One example is our German team developing the testing
capability for the hydrogen delivery systems to ensure safe,
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expertise and the mCREST portable
4-poster. The industry did
not have this particular capability
and TÜV SÜD developed it,
deployed it and are now in discussions
with multiple OEMs
about expanding our capacity
with additional portable units.
Expert Insight: How does TÜV
SÜD share knowledge, both within the company and your
testing teams and with industry partners or regulatory bodies,
to keep updating your automotive testing capabilities?
Drew: That's a really strong benefit of our community within TÜV
SÜD. Not just that we have strong technical leaders in our industry,
but we have it in multiple regions of the world because as, as
we all know, different regions develop certain technologies or
focus on those technologies earlier than other regions.
TÜV SÜD is global and we have experts in all of those regions.
We can use that expertise regionally with the customers,
develop that capability locally and then deploy with customers
in other regions as they're looking to expand. We like
to be in the same areas as our customers and it's worked out
really well because, I mean, let's be honest, most of our key
customers are global, just as TÜV SÜD is.
Expert Insight: Finally, how does TÜV SÜD support the industry's
sustainability goals?
Drew: In addition to TÜV SÜD's global pledge toward carbon
neutrality, clearly our EV battery testing is supporting a green
industry. Even in the design of our new Auburn Hills lab we
took this to heart, sourcing 100% of the electricity from green
energy, as well as protecting the environment from corrosive
and toxic battery emissions through the use of a wet scrubber
and filtration system. I'm really proud of TÜV SÜD's commitment
to sustainability, to our customers, to the region and to
the environment.
Watch the full interview with Jonathan.
August 2024 15

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