Netherlands / Italy / USA – Stellantis NV, an automotive corporation based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, has announced that it is investing approximately EUR33m in two of its testing facilities with the aim of improving its electric and autonomous vehicle technologies. 

The largest share of the money is going to the company’s wind tunnel complex in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. USD29.5m is being invested to install a rolling road, which simulates on-road travel while allowing test vehicles to remain static. Belts enable all four wheels on the vehicle to move while a fifth belt runs beneath the vehicle as if it were rolling over a roadway. The moving ground plane technology employed also enables the measurement of ventilation drag, which is the resistance created exclusively by wheels and tyres in motion, accounting for up to 10% of aerodynamic drag. Work on the wind tunnel is expected to complete by 2024, with the aim of improving the aerodynamics and therefore the energy efficiency of electric vehicles.