Almost exactly 10 years after the opening of the Mercedes-Benz Trucks Development and Testing Center (EVZ) in Wörth am Rhein, the company has revealed a €50m (US$57.8m) investment in the facility, with executives gathering for a groundbreaking ceremony at the center.
Updates to the facility will include an additional office and workshop building, a new lab housing test benches, and parking for test vehicles. Work is scheduled to be complete by 2020. At present, there are around 200 employees based at the EVZ; once the expansion is complete, a hiring initiative is expected to take the total to 350.
The EVZ plays an important role in the development of connected, automated and electric vehicles. It has numerous tracks with rough test surfaces and different profiles replicating public roads from across the world, including from South America, South Korea, Africa and Europe, for example.
Furthermore, the EVZ comprises a break-in track with inclinations of up to 49%, which can be used for functional testing. It already has office, workshop and service spaces, which house test benches for truck component testing, for example.
