Made by NEVS. Visit to the NEVS R&D Center (2/2)

The NEVS R&D Center has 16 different departments. We visit 4 of them and are on our way to the test benches for engines and drive units. This section is particularly secret, because the future is already running on the test benches today.

About 30 years at Saab.

Ronnie Hermansson gives us a very warm welcome and floods Mark and me with a number of ideas about what would be interesting and what we could see. He is the unrestricted master of the test benches for engines, transmissions and actually everything that forms a drive unit. The laboratories in his department test not only combustion engines and hybrids, but also drive trains with electric motors.

18 employees work here. We hear that they are the best of the best who have already been with Saab. The pride in Ronnie's voice cannot be ignored, and it tells us about a long Saab tradition, a lot of experience, and the future. He has been with Saab for 34 years and somehow we bloggers like him from the first moment.

There are press events where marketing and press officers have the floor. Mostly there is a very special, filtered view of things to hear. This appointment at NEVS is different. Unconventional and courageous because our contacts are engineers and developers. Unfiltered just. They talk to us openly, always with a lot of humor, and in the background the pride of the work and the history is always felt. We travel from department to department, drawing the bow from the 80 years into the future. In the year 2020 or 2025 maybe.

An electric drive unit for a NEVS EV runs on one of the test stands. The test stand can be heated to high temperatures, and it is also possible to simulate the deepest Scandinavian winter with minus degrees. Another test stand for transmissions checks their resilience, special machines allow simulation at various angles of inclination.

Saab, Ronnie tells us, has a very long history of testing, you have to add. As a small manufacturer, the money was always scarce. And testing on the test track has always been costly. Therefore, component-by-component testing has been carried out intensively in the development laboratories for decades, long before the vehicles hit the road. This past experience is now leveraging NEVS.

Wind and climate tunnel.

The test benches and the work there are top secret areas. The future is there, and for this reason the Nikon is not being used. We move on through the building of the development center. Our next destination is the wind and climate tunnel. It was put into operation in 1987 and corresponded to the Saab philosophy of testing as extensively as possible in the laboratory at an early stage.

Climate and wind tunnels are almost at the bottom of the site, only the material testing laboratory is further away from our starting point. On the way there we pass a parking lot with screen, NEVS test vehicles drive past us. It is late afternoon, and you can feel the bustle in all departments.

Electric sun in the wind - air tunnel.

Hoffmann propeller in wood composite construction.

Made by Bavaria. From the south, Rosenheim.

NEVS wind and air tunnel.

The wind tunnel runs 16 hours a day and is also very heavily booked by other brands. Another manufacturer is testing today; this part is of course closed to us. We inspect the test stand and are then allowed into the empty tunnel. The heaters on the ceiling can heat the canal up to 50 degrees, they were still in operation minutes ago, and we are greeted with warmth like summer. It is also possible to lower the temperature to -35 degrees, let the Sahara sun shine, ignite snowstorms or wind speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour.

There is a program that shows rain on German autobahns, city traffic in Los Angeles, or Swedish country roads. In short, I'm quite impressed. The system is almost 30 years old, but still state-of-the-art. In the coming year the “electric sun” on the ceiling will be renewed. The investment is necessary because the control technology has to be replaced.

From history to the future.

The Climate and Wind Tunnel is a piece of Saab history and NEV's future. The automatic climate control of the Saab 9000 and its successors has been developed, tested and improved over and over again. In the 9000er it was probably the best air conditioning of their time. Electric cars from Trollhättan, tested for all climatic conditions on this planet, will form the future. And that's exactly what our next appointment is about.

Mark and I walk back from the wind tunnel via the outdoor facilities of the development department. Various test vehicles are still chasing across the site. We say goodbye to Thomas, who has led us the afternoon. With Ulrika we now meet Christian Bromander, Director Mechanical & Electrical Architecture. He worked at BMW for more than 10 years before moving back to Sweden in 2002.

Since then he has experienced a lot. Work for Saab Automobile, for the liquidators, for Lean Nova. Conversations with potential buyers, the beginning with NEVS. If you want to understand the future, you also have to know the past. So let's talk about the old times. About the never-produced Saab 9-3 SUV, which prevented GM on the home straight. The Saab hybrid, which was not allowed to come. 2011 / 12 about the grim, hard winter time when Christian was alone in the huge building because work had to be completed.

At some point during the conversation, my penny drops. In the many conversations that afternoon and now here with Christian Bromander, one always revolves around one topic. One was never allowed to prove one's abilities, was always thwarted. And then it comes, the bowl set. “Now, with NEVS, we can show what we can do. If it goes wrong, there are no more excuses. "

The lateral thinkers

It quickly becomes clear to me in conversation that something very exciting new is growing up here. A lot of Saab was felt in the laboratories. People who have dedicated decades to the brand and whom I find likeable for this reason alone. But it's not just the car people. Clever minds from many other industries come together at NEVS. From IT, from the furniture industry. Furniture? Yes, of course, to bring in new materials and external ideas. Thinking outside the box is a must at NEVS. It reminds me of the “Lunatic Factor”.

The Lego kit

The key to the future should be the Phoenix E architecture. The name is the only thing in common with considerations that began during the Saab Spyker era. Phoenix E is new, completely developed by NEVS, and Phoenix E is revolutionary. Because the Lego construction kit, as Christian humorously calls it, allows NEVS, as a small producer, to cover many vehicle classes.

Graphics show us how the kit works, which parts have to be flexible in order to be able to efficiently produce a sedan, hatchback, SUV or compact car. I learn, I understand. Above all, I now understand why it takes time for the new products to be ready. Once the kit is in place, NEVS can develop an unbelievable number of different models and launch them on the market in a very short time.

It's easy to explain using the example of a steering wheel. To construct a single steering wheel is enough if you do it right. It can be produced in an infinite number of designs and variants, so that you can fulfill absolutely every customer request. The person at the wheel will never assume that from the developer's point of view it is always the same part. Sometimes with 2, sometimes with 3 or with 4 spokes. Brilliant !

Keep it simple

Keeping things simple is a big challenge. Especially in this industry, where a variety of options are available to the buyer. NEVS is on the way. Phoenix E defines things clearly and simply and yet is extremely flexible. Phoenix E is designed for autonomous driving right from the start. A topic that is really getting going at the moment. And NEVS is in it, right up to the fully autonomous level 5. The Trollhättan Lego kit is also designed for electric cars, hybrid and conventional engines.

Are you planning a plug-in hybrid or a combustion engine at NEVS? No, says Christian to us. NEVS will only build electric cars, but there is strong interest from customers who would like to use NEVS technology for conventional drives as well.

Then there is the topic of “shared mobility”. It's kind of in my stomach and I can't quite cope with it. In human history, property has always been important and desirable. My house, my yacht, my car - or something like that. And earlier what it was my horse, or my horses. So why should future customers get excited about sharing their cars?

NEVS is premium

The answer amazes me to some extent. It will be desirable to drive a NEVS. Just as the neighbors are reflecting on the new leasing vehicle in the present, so will it be with “shared mobility” in the future. Just a little more intelligent.

There will be providers in various segments. Higher class or in the wood class. But who can be picked up by a NEVS, which must be simply successful. Or, to put it more clearly, he has to be able to afford it. How about that, Christian asks me, if you are picked up every morning by a clean, freshly washed vehicle, and the favorite reading (on request in analog format) is ready?

Yes, how about that? I would like that. A lot. Because NEVS takes things from me, for which I hardly find time. Or those that are annoying. In the future, I will pay no car insurance and no more taxes. I do not need workshop appointments, I do not need to wash or vacuum a car. Because that's what NEVS cares about. I only pay if I use the vehicle. And for my free time and hobby, the analog Saabs are in the garage. Or I drive with a NEVS EV convertible on the weekend in the mountains.

Does NEVS see itself as a premium? Yes, NEVS will be premium.

We thank Christian Bromander for his time, the conversation and the many informations. Seriously, there is still so much to talk about with him. But today the flood of information kills me, I have to first classify and process what I've heard. With Christian and Ulrika we make a farewell photo in the foyer. In front of the historic Saab electric car, which once again has a symbolic character.

Epilogue

The blog is an autoblog. No business or car magazine, and Mark and I are not journalists. We are actually amateurs who like cars - preferably when they come from Trollhättan and wear the Saab logo. In the future possibly also if they are from NEVS. Because they should also be from Trollhättan.

We will see !

During the visit, we weren't interested in judging things and then making a comment. Instead, talking to the people who work for NEVS every day was very important to us. These impressions of the moment are a thousand times more meaningful than presentations in any press conference.

Quite frankly, we thank NEVS for the trust you have placed in us. We didn't see a secret prototype, but the uncensored walk through the forbidden area was worth so much more. I can now understand why things take time, I understand why people from Gothenburg commute to Trollhättan every day and not to Hisingen.

The way is still a long way for NEVS and not without imponderables. There are hurdles. The production license for China will be one of them. In a few years we will know where the journey of the proud, creative and ambitious lateral thinkers from the Stallbacka will ultimately lead. Until then, we will continue to support NEVS. We will be back. 2017. If we may ...