TU Wien strengthens e-mobility focus with new drive testing benches

A new center for innovative drivetrain technology is being established at TU Wien. The so-called eMOTION Lab will be located within the existing Institute for Powertrains and Automotive Technology, expanding its capabilities with additional test benches for electric drivetrain systems.

Tu wien ifa labor — Employee Magdalena Pöll shows a so-called IGBT module.
Image: IFA

According to TU Wien, the new eMOTION Lab will be equipped with testing technology from the technology company AVL. Once completed, the institute’s facilities will include an inverter test bench, and in future, an e-axle test bench and a high-voltage integration test bench. The name ‘eMOTION’ stands for “electrical energy and motion,” as the university explained. This new infrastructure will create a research environment that meets both academic standards and industrial requirements. “With the eMOTION Lab, the IFA itself is undergoing a transformation by diversifying its research focus and opening up to forward-looking technologies.”

At the Institute for Powertrains and Automotive Technology (IFA), research has been conducted for many years on internal combustion engines, sustainable fuels and electric drives. However, the eMOTION Lab will now significantly expand this scope with additional eMobility test benches, particularly for electric machines. “Pressure is growing on politicians and industry to bring alternative drive systems into series production more quickly,” TU Wien emphasises. “This is exactly where the eMOTION Lab comes in: it creates the technical basis for researching, testing, and further developing new concepts under realistic conditions.”

The Austrian powertrain developer AVL is supplying the customised test systems for this purpose. The first part of the eMOTION Lab, the inverter test bench, is scheduled to become operational in April 2026. It will subsequently be available to IFA staff as well as partners within and outside TU Wien.

“In addition to our established hybrid test benches, we are now adding a new inverter test bench and, in the future, an e-axle and a high-voltage integration test bench,” summarises IFA Director Uwe Grebe. For this reason, the eMOTION Lab is equipped with a special chamber that can simulate extreme conditions from -40 to +100 degrees Celsius. According to Grebe, the components in the test environment can also be actively cooled, “which further improves their properties and enables thermal management of the entire system.”

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