PLYMOUTH, MI - AVL has won an Environmental Protection Agency contract for critical automotive emissions testing that will take place at the National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory (NVFEL) in Ann Arbor, Mich. 

AVL specializes in development, simulation and testing technology of powertrains (hybrid, combustion engines, transmission, electric drive, batteries and software) for passenger cars, trucks and large engines. AVL's North American headquarters are in the Detroit suburb of Plymouth, Mich.

As a result of the Renewable Fuel Standard program, greater emphasis will be placed at the EPA Laboratory on testing vehicles operated on renewable fuels at both cold-temperature and high-temperature conditions. Specifically, the contract covers sampling, analytical and automation equipment for the new cold test and SC03 vehicle emissions test facilities.

"As a company that fully supports the Clean Air Act and the EPA's dedication to protecting our nation's air quality, we are proud to have been chosen to work on this industry-changing initiative," said Don Manvel, AVL North America chairman and CEO.

For this initiative, the EPA selected AVL to provide the company's latest iGeneration technology in fully automated emission, sampling and measurements instrumentation to test a wide range of vehicles under various simulated climate scenarios (20 degrees F to 100 degrees F). These include 1,000- to 14,000-pound vehicles with single- or dual-drive axles fueled by gasoline, alcohol and other oxygenated fuels, gaseous fuels and diesel or biodiesel fuel.

"It is significant that the EPA has established AVL's iGeneration Emission Systems as a new standard for the automotive industry in emissions testing," said Greg Hopton, president of AVL Test Systems Inc. "Especially in light of the extreme pressure OEMs are under to meet aggressive, new, federally mandated emissions and guidelines."

AVL will provide AMAi60s for sampling and measurement of diluted and raw exhaust, a CVSi60 Constant Volume Sampler with two independent dilution tunnels for clean and dirty exhaust samples, a PSSi60 for particulate sampling, and AVL's PUMA automation system with the iGEM Vehicle Emission testing application software.