ABB to open new research centre in Netherlands

ABB is building a new, fully sustainable, global headquarters and R&D centre to advance its market leading position in EV charging infrastructure.The $10 million facility to advance ABB's global continued leadership of Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Infrastructure. The global headquarters and Research & Development (R&D) centre will be built on the TU Delft Campus, Heertjeslaan, Netherlands, by 2019.

The 3,600 square metre facility, due for completion in June 2019, emphasises ABB's commitment to advancing developments in the field of sustainable mobility. The facility is fitted with the latest technology for software and hardware development, product architecture, interoperability and reliability in extreme environmental conditions.

Frank Muehlon, Managing Director for ABB's EV Charging business comments: “The investment in this new head office and R&D centre demonstrates ABB's commitment to technological leadership and setting the standard when it comes to sustainable mobility. The facility will allow us to increase the pace of product testing and development, ensuring we can deliver innovate products to market faster than ever.”

Located on the southern part of the TU Delft Campus, the complex, which will be able to house up to 120 people, will mark the return of ABB's EV charging business to the home of its conception. Indeed, the students who founded Epyon (the EV charging start-up acquired by ABB in 2011), were former students of Delft University of Technology.

With interoperability the key focus for ABB chargers, the building will be fitted with the latest technology to ensure that ABB chargers are compatible with all types of vehicle. Simulators have been built exactly for this purpose, with 95% of all tests to be conducted with a digital copy of vehicles loaded into the simulator.

As how the car and charger behave in warm or cold weather cannot be tested with the simulator, ABB is developing environmental rooms for this purpose, where the systems will be subjected to extreme conditions, including a temperature range of -40 to +40 degrees Celsius and high humidity.

The facility is also being designed to advance charging for the rapidly growing electric-bus segment, with testing areas large enough for a public transport bus to drive inside.

As part of the relationship with TU Delft, the new ABB facility will be able to accommodate Masters and PhD students from the University.