Roads to research

摘要

Ricardo has launched a £10m research centre aimed at developing the next generation of low-carbon vehicles. The Ricardo Vehicle Emissions Research Centre (VERC) is capable of testing anything from small passenger cars to light trucks of up to three tonnes, including advanced hybrid electric vehicles and technologies such as energy regeneration and start/stop systems. Importantly for hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicle testing, it can measure the battery's state of charge, as well as emission levels. The facility is designed to do much more than simply testing that vehicles are meeting emissions regulations, according to Richard Murphy, head of UK test operations at Ricardo.