Celebrating anniversaries is always an occasion for any organisation that can become a milestone in its annuls with some announcements, launching new models, or entering new markets. However, for the global vehicle maker headquartered in Germany, Daimler, it was on a different occasion as the automaker officially commenced its R&D Tech Center China, as part of its commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Daimler Greater China in Beijing.
Set up with an investment of 1.1 billion RMB (approximately $ 172 million), the full-fledged R&D centre focuses on major technological trends, tailor-made innovation, and significantly accelerating Daimler’s local product development.
The centre objectives include – to grow in China, with China, transforming the company from ‘electric first to electric only,’ and promoting local innovation that can contribute to global success. In a nutshell, the nidus of the new R&D hub will be to facilitate innovation by combining engineering and testing within a modern and agile campus environment.
Confluence Of Researchers From Various Disciplines
For the first time in the country, Daimler bundles different disciplines like research, engineering, simulation and testing under one roof. Around 1,000 engineers will benefit from intensive exchange and expertise sharing.
The 55,000 square metres built-up area integrates an office building and a test building with state-of-the-art testing facilities, a workshop, a warehouse and testing-car parking lots. The campus has inspection, testing and validation facilities for hardware and software, integrating all essential functions. The proximity of engineering and testing will help to speed up processes significantly.
With its unique container concept, the new test building is pro-actively designed to lead the transformation in the automotive industry. In addition, the concept enables future technology investments and capacity upgrades.
Seven Testing Facilities
The test building is home to seven state-of-the-art testing facilities, including an eDrive lab, a charging lab, a volatile organic compounds (VOC) lab, a chassis lab, a noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) lab, an engine lab as well as an environmental lab. The new test building can accommodate more than 300 test vehicles at the same time.
Mercedes-Benz testing requirements are highly diverse to ensure typical vehicle characters and quality, such as ride and handling, noise comfort or durability. The new test building ensures consistency and reproducibility of testing processes throughout the year and aligns with global Mercedes-Benz standards.
The new centre will test next-generation electric cars under realistic conditions. For instance, the eDrive lab has two test chambers that can simulate a temperature range of -30˚C to +50˚C. The two sets of 4-wheel dynamometers can test whole electric vehicles, components or real battery pack tests. In addition, the intelligent test bench can simulate real driving conditions like air resistance or different topographies by adjusting the roller force and using big data applications. These facilities allow the OEM to carry out comprehensive testing of next-generation electric vehicles at an early stage, under extreme conditions and throughout the year. The new eDrive lab also sets benchmarks in terms of sustainability and energy conservation as it can recuperate the energy of the tested vehicle back into the electric grid, which reduces the overall energy consumption significantly.
The new chassis lab, for example, is equipped with a state-of-the-art road simulator that can simulate extremely rough road conditions. It allows 100% comparable results with other locations within the global R&D network. Based on this, the engineers can optimise comfort and durability for localised carlines, particularly electric vehicles.
In terms of digitisation, artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, cutting-edge computing, its R&D team in China plays an increasingly important role. The new centre will drive the technology development and technology sourcing, especially on new energy vehicles.
Creating Conducive Atmosphere
Daimler has designed the new building wearing a perfect thinking hat to more than match the needs of its researchers and creative colleagues, as the very design of the new office building catalyses creative thinking and interdisciplinary collaboration. It also meets the leading international standards of the WELL Building Institute, earning WELL certification at the Platinum level.
The automaker has also teamed up with local industry leaders, tech and IT players, startups as well as universities, not only to enhance its regional footprint but also to strengthen its competitiveness worldwide. With a strong focus on the needs of the local customers, the R&D Tech Center, no doubt, marks yet another milestone in Daimler’s strategy to explore and leverage the local market's substantial technological potential and talent.
Ultimately, these initiatives will make the future products from Mercedes-Benz to be comprehensively engineered, tested and verified long before they hit the road.