Five core evaluation systems to be operational in October

at Changwon National Industrial Complex expansion zone;

integrated testing to cover components through full vehicles

A multi-axis power generation and transmission integrated electric drive system performance evaluation facility in Changwon. [Korea Automotive Technology Institute]
A multi-axis power generation and transmission integrated electric drive system performance evaluation facility in Changwon. [Korea Automotive Technology Institute]

The Korea Automotive Technology Institute will complete construction of the country's only and largest dedicated testing infrastructure for eco-friendly commercial vehicles at the Changwon National Industrial Complex expansion zone in October, aimed at helping domestic parts companies achieve technological independence and commercialization.

The institute announced Wednesday that it has established an integrated performance evaluation platform at the expansion zone in Seongsan-gu, Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, through a project to build a comprehensive testing foundation for electric drive systems in large electric and hydrogen commercial vehicles — the only such integrated facility in the country, designed to support the development of high-power, high-speed and high-durability electric drive systems.

The project, totaling 19.9 billion won ($14.8 million), has been carried out since 2022 with support and close cooperation from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, South Gyeongsang Province and the city of Changwon. Its goals are to help companies secure electric drive system technology for eco-friendly commercial vehicles and to strengthen the competitiveness of the future mobility industry.

The institute pursued the project with the aim of consolidating previously scattered evaluation infrastructure for large electric and hydrogen commercial vehicle drive systems into a unified support framework covering individual components, subsystems and powertrain units.

To build an integrated evaluation platform tailored to large commercial vehicles, the institute completed five core evaluation systems: a multi-axis power generation and transmission integrated electric drive system performance evaluator; a high-power and high-torque electric drive component performance evaluator; a high-power and high-speed electric drive component performance evaluator; a real-road driving simulation multi-hardware-in-the-loop system; and a temperature-humidity environmental chamber for assessing electric drive system environmental durability.

Using the newly built infrastructure, the institute plans to provide integrated support to companies across the full development cycle of electric drive systems for eco-friendly commercial vehicles — from big data-based benchmarking and specification review at the planning stage through reliability verification at the mass production stage.

The institute expects domestic parts companies that have struggled with the absence of in-house evaluation platforms and heavy cost burdens during system development to use the new infrastructure to accelerate technological independence and commercialization.

The institute also expects the facility to help companies significantly cut development time and costs and strengthen their competitiveness in global markets by securing a development and verification environment that allows them to proactively meet the requirements of vehicle manufacturers in Europe, the United States and other overseas markets.

"This infrastructure goes beyond simply introducing equipment — its significance lies in providing domestic parts companies with a development environment that allows them to proactively respond to global markets," said Kim Deok-jin, head of the institute's Power and Control Research Division. "As the country's only infrastructure capable of integrated evaluation from components to full vehicles, we will contribute to achieving carbon neutrality in the large mobility sector and to revitalizing the regional industrial ecosystem."

Meanwhile, the institute has been carrying out a range of activities at home and abroad to advance the mobility industry, including signing a memorandum of understanding on future mobility research cooperation with Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Sept. 6.


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