The growth of electric vehicles (EVs) has brought new materials and components into the global automotive supply chain that require mechanical testing. To offset the immense weight of EV batteries, a heightened focus has been put on the preexisting light weighting trend. Similar to conventional automotive testing, raw materials and assemblies specific to EVs, such as polymer films used for Li-ion battery separators and the packs they ultimately form, require development and production testing.

Wheels and tires are safety-critical components that are subject to enormous loads and wear during their service life. Their reliability can only be guaranteed through tests that simulate real load conditions as closely as possible and by obtaining the full mechanical characteristics of the materials used to produce wheels and tires.

Traditionally, most parts of a car are made from various types of metal materials. The demand for lighter materials means that a lot of research and development is going into providing higher and higher grades of metal. This brings with it many new testing challenges.

Automakers continue to increase the number of electrical components within vehicles. With applications such as onboard diagnostic computers, fuel injection systems, auxiliary lights, instrument panel controls, and increasingly infotainment systems, it is critical that all of these systems are tested to ensure quality and safety.