The acceleration of global clean transportation—driven by strict emissions regulations, aggressive EV adoption targets, and zero-emission commercial fleets—requires robust, high-precision power testing equipment. Vehicle manufacturers and tier-1 automotive suppliers face demanding testing benchmarks ranging from 800V/1000V high-voltage battery architecture to SiC/GaN-based inverter efficiency and ultra-fast DC charging station validation.
Power Test Engineering for EV & Internal Combustion Platforms
AMETEK Programmable Power brings over 60 years of engineering leadership in high-density power instruments to empower both legacy automotive platforms and modern Electric Vehicle (EV), Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV), and Hydrogen Fuel Cell architectures.
Whether simulating transient voltage drops during engine cranking, executing dynamic battery charge/discharge cycles up to multi-megawatt scales, or testing hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) automotive control systems, our programmable AC & DC sources and electronic loads provide sub-millisecond control response, high energy density, and continuous regenerative energy recovery back to the facility power grid.
Comprehensive Automotive Test Applications
AMETEK Programmable Power instruments are deployed across global R&D centers, quality control laboratories, and high-volume automotive manufacturing facilities to validate key sub-systems under extreme environmental and operational parameters:
- EV Battery Cell, Module & Pack Testing: Precision charge/discharge cycling, state-of-health (SOH) characterization, and battery pack emulation up to 1.3 MW.
- Hydrogen Fuel Cell Stack Simulation: High-current, low-voltage water-cooled and air-cooled electronic load testing for stationary and heavy-duty transportation fuel cell systems.
- ECU & Automotive Electronics Immunity: Simulating automotive power line disturbances including ISO 16750-2 transients, micro-interruptions, and LV 124 voltage drop profiles.
- Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) & On-Board Chargers (OBC): High-power bidirectional AC grid simulation and dynamic DC load testing for Level 2 and Level 3 DC fast chargers.
- Traction Inverter & Electric Motor Drive Validation: High-bandwidth regenerative DC sourcing and sinking to simulate realistic driving cycles and back-EMF energy return.
- Safety System & Actuator Emulation: High-reliability testing for Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS), electric power steering (EPS), active suspension, and airbag deployment modules.
Automotive Power Test Equipment Matrix
Refer to the table below to select the optimal AMETEK Programmable Power instrument family tailored to your automotive sub-system testing requirements:
| Test Application | Recommended Instrument Family | Key Power & Performance Specs | Primary Technical Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| EV Battery Pack Cycling & Drive Emulation | Mi-BEAM / i-BEAM Bidirectional Series | Up to 1.3 MW, DC voltages to 1500V, currents up to 1000A | Seamless source-to-sink transitions with high-efficiency energy regeneration to the grid. |
| High-Density Component & ECU Testing | Asterion DC & Asterion DC ASA Series | Autoranging output up to 5 kW per 1U / 3U chassis; 3-channel isolated outputs | Industry-leading power density with intuitive touchscreen GUI and global remote bus commands. |
| Regenerative AC Grid & EVSE Simulation | Sequoia Series AC/DC Grid Simulator | 15 kVA to 1.08 MVA multi-phase, four-quadrant operation | Simulates global grid anomalies, harmonics, frequency drops, and bidirectional energy flow. |
| Fuel Cell Stack & High-Power DC Load Test | PLW Series Water-Cooled Electronic Loads | 6 kW to 250 kW+ per rack, high current handling | Quiet, high-capacity water-cooled dissipation engineered for continuous full-power fuel cell testing. |
| HIL Simulation & Transient Voltage Profile Test | HPX / DLM Series Programmable DC Supplies | Fast transient response time, high accuracy programming | Low output noise and ultra-fast slew rate to simulate fast engine crank curves and load dumps. |
Featured Test Instruments for Global Automotive OEMs
Asterion DC & ASA Series
Compact 1U and 3U autoranging programmable DC supplies providing flexible current/voltage operation for ECU, sensor, thermal cooling, and motor drive testing.
Mi-BEAM & i-BEAM Bidirectional Systems
High-power modular DC source/sink systems designed for EV battery pack charge/discharge cycling, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, and inverter validation.
Sequoia Regenerative Grid Simulators
Full 4-quadrant regenerative AC power sources providing grid disturbance simulation for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and charging station interoperability testing.
PLA & PLW Electronic Loads
Air-cooled and liquid-cooled programmable DC electronic loads delivering fast transient response for fuel cell stack validation and power distribution unit (PDU) testing.
Engineering Reliability & Investment Protection
Automotive standards continuously evolve to keep pace with higher system voltages (moving from 400V to 800V and 1000V+) and higher switching frequencies. AMETEK Programmable Power's modular, software-configurable instruments ensure long-term capital investment protection. Engineers can scale power capacity via parallel operation and update software firmware to meet updated ISO, DIN, and SAE test standard requirements without replacing test bench hardware.
Request Complete Product & Technical Catalog
Download our technical spec sheets, automotive application notes, and full product catalog to configure your next-generation EV or automotive test system.
Get Catalog