Northbrook lab aims for safe turn to green tech by testing electric car batteries
NORTHBROOK, Ill. (CBS) – Some people would argue the future is here. Not because of flying cars, but vehicles that run on electricity.
Even if you're not feeling EVs yet, a scientific testing company wants to make sure the technology is ready for you. CBS 2's Lauren Victory took us inside local inspectors with a global impact.
The experiments inside UL Solution's new lab take weeks or even months. The subject under scrutiny recently looks like a souped-up computer cord. What the Northbrook-based team is actually testing is a charger for an electric vehicle.
"People are using this equipment and it's something they've never done before," said Milan Dotlich, vice president of energy and industrial automation at UL Solutions.
That's why all sorts of operator errors and manufacturing failures are tested for. The engineer is varying voltages using electricity from stacks that function like a power grid.
"We do look for use over time so flexing and bending, drop tests in the connectors," said Tim Zgonena, principal engineer for energy and industrial automation.
They also toy with humidity and crank up the heat in weather simulators.
"We need to make sure that there is no exposure of live parts," Zgonena said. "If enclosures crack with the cold temperatures, make sure water doesn't get inside."
The goal is to eliminate the risk of fire or shock. Scenarios involve equipment of all sizes for vehicles of all sizes.
Victory: "How big are we talking that a bus charger could be?"
Dotlich: "A bus charger could fill most of this chamber."
Dotlich helped create the high-tech lab to get ahead of the demand for chargers as electric vehicle sales rise.
"They will be everywhere and so that's why we're putting in the testing capability now to prove out this technology will operate safely," he said.
CBS 2's cameras got a peek only a few weeks into operation. Eventually, techs will fill every station analyzing both domestic and international chargers.
They're helping the world go green safely.
The lab is also equipped to test new products in the works. That includes chargers that can juice up a vehicle and also send power back into a house or onto the grid.