XILforEV · Project

Cloud-Connected Testing Labs That Let You Develop Electric Vehicles Faster Across Multiple Sites

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Imagine you're designing an electric car, but your battery lab is in Germany, your motor test rig is in Spain, and your suspension team sits in France. Normally each team tests in isolation and you only discover problems when you bolt everything together — often way too late. XILforEV built a system that connects all these test benches over the internet in real time, so they run the same driving scenario simultaneously and you can spot problems between components instantly. Think of it like a multiplayer video game, except the players are laboratory machines testing car parts together.

By the numbers

consortium partners

countries involved

67%

industry partner ratio

demonstrated XIL environments (local + remote)

connected partner test sites (TUIL, ITAINNOVA, AUDI, TENNECO)

total deliverables

The business problem

What needed solving

Developing electric vehicles requires testing dozens of interconnected systems — batteries, motors, power electronics, suspension — but the engineers and test labs working on these components are often scattered across countries. Today, each lab tests in isolation, and critical interactions between systems only surface during expensive late-stage physical integration. This means longer development cycles, more prototype builds, and costly surprises.

The solution

What was built

The project built and demonstrated two connected testing environments: a local setup linking test benches on the TU Ilmenau campus, and a distributed remote setup connecting labs at TUIL, ITAINNOVA, AUDI, and TENNECO across multiple countries — with real-time data exchange, shared vehicle models, and use-case validation for EV motion control and fail-safe control.

Audience

Who needs this

Automotive OEMs with distributed R&D labs developing electric vehiclesTier-1 suppliers needing to validate EV components in system-level contextsHIL and test automation vendors looking to add distributed testing featuresEV startups wanting to access shared testing infrastructure without building their ownAutomotive engineering service companies offering virtual and physical testing

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Automotive OEM & Tier-1 Suppliers

enterprise

Target: Electric vehicle manufacturers and powertrain suppliers with distributed R&D centers

If you are an EV manufacturer running test labs across multiple countries — this project developed a distributed real-time testing environment demonstrated at sites including AUDI and TENNECO. It connects hardware-in-the-loop rigs, dynamometers, and other test setups across locations so your teams can run joint validation scenarios without shipping prototypes. The consortium of 9 partners across 6 countries proved this works in practice.

Automotive Test Equipment & Simulation

mid-size

Target: Companies selling HIL systems, test automation, or simulation platforms

If you are a test equipment vendor looking to add distributed testing capabilities to your product line — this project created the communication architecture and real-time data handling methods needed to connect test benches across sites. The technology was validated with 2 demo environments (local and remote) linking setups at 4 partner locations. Integrating this into your platform could open a new market for connected testing services.

EV Component Manufacturing

any

Target: Makers of EV motors, battery packs, inverters, or suspension systems

If you are a component supplier needing to prove your part works within the full vehicle system before delivery — this project built real-time vehicle models with automatic validation that run across connected labs. Instead of waiting months for physical integration tests at the OEM site, you can plug your test bench into the shared environment and validate system-level behavior from your own facility.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to adopt this connected testing approach?

The project data does not include specific licensing or deployment costs. The system was built as a research platform across 9 partners, so commercial pricing would depend on the number of test benches connected and the real-time communication infrastructure required. Contact the coordinator at TU Ilmenau for licensing discussions.

Can this scale to connect more than a handful of labs?

The project demonstrated two configurations: a local setup connecting test benches on the TU Ilmenau campus, and a remote setup connecting 4 partner sites (TUIL, ITAINNOVA, AUDI, TENNECO) across multiple countries. The architecture was designed for distributed operation, but scaling beyond the demonstrated 4-site configuration would need further validation.

Who owns the IP and can we license it?

This was a publicly funded Research and Innovation Action (RIA) under Horizon 2020. IP is typically shared among the 9 consortium partners according to their grant agreement. TU Ilmenau as coordinator would be the first contact point for licensing or collaboration. The project website at xil.cloud may have additional details.

Does this work with our existing test equipment?

The project was designed to connect different types of experimental infrastructure including hardware-in-the-loop test rigs, dynamometers, and material analysers. The focus was on building communication protocols that ensure real-time capability across heterogeneous setups, suggesting it was built to be equipment-agnostic rather than locked to specific vendors.

How mature is this technology — is it ready for production use?

The consortium delivered 2 demonstrated environments: a local XIL setup and a distributed remote XIL connecting test setups at TUIL, ITAINNOVA, AUDI, and TENNECO with full functionality for their use cases. This puts it past the prototype stage, but it remains a research-validated platform rather than a commercial product. Further engineering would be needed for production deployment.

What EV-specific testing scenarios were validated?

Based on the project objective, dedicated case studies covered EV motion control and EV fail-safe control. The system also addressed development of high-confidence, real-time capable models with automatic validation using experimental data from the connected test benches.

Consortium

Who built it

This is a strong, industry-heavy consortium with 6 out of 9 partners (67%) coming from industry, including major names like AUDI and TENNECO — both real end-users of the technology. The 6-country spread across Western and Southern Europe (Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Netherlands, Slovenia) reflects the distributed nature of real automotive supply chains. TU Ilmenau coordinates from Germany with deep automotive engineering expertise. The absence of SMEs and the presence of large OEMs suggest this technology was designed for enterprise-scale adoption. With 2 universities and 1 research organization providing the scientific backbone, the consortium balances academic rigor with industrial applicability.

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET ILMENAUCoordinator · DE
ELAPHE POGONSKE TEHNOLOGIJE DOOparticipant · SI
SIEMENS INDUSTRY SOFTWARE SASparticipant · FR
SIEMENS INDUSTRY SOFTWARE NVparticipant · BE
AUDI AKTIENGESELLSCHAFTparticipant · DE
INSTITUTO TECNOLOGICO DE ARAGONparticipant · ES
TENNECO AUTOMOTIVE EUROPE BVBAparticipant · BE
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFTparticipant · NL

How to reach the team

TU Ilmenau (Germany) — search for XILforEV project lead in their automotive engineering department

Order a report on this consortium See TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET ILMENAU profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to connect with the XILforEV team about licensing their distributed testing platform? SciTransfer can arrange a direct introduction to the right person at TU Ilmenau.

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