IOC inaugurates lubricant testing facility for electric vehicles

Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) inaugurated its lubricant testing facility for electric vehicles (EVs) on April 25, 2023 at its R&D Center located in Faridabad, on the outskirts of India’s national capital, New Delhi.

With the commissioning of this testing facility, IndianOil R&D now has the complete gamut of facilities for EV charging, research and testing of lab and field testing of lubricants for electric vehicles. 

According to IOC, the facility is the first in the country, giving the lubricant market leader the first-mover advantage. 

“With this, we are now fully ready to formulate and test cutting-edge lubes for new-gen electric vehicles,” said Dr. SSV Ramakumar, IOC director (R&D), during the inauguration of the test facility.

This new electric vehicle lubricant test facility has been commissioned in line with the recently released SAE J3200, Fluid for Automotive Electrified Drivetrains, which is an important international standard available for assessment of EV lubricants, said IOC in a press release.

Due to the integration of the electric motor with the transmission system of electric vehicles, there are new performance requirements for transmission lubricants, primarily with respect to electrical properties. These requirements become more critical from the perspective of lubricant formulations for wet motors. Further, electric drives operate in broader RPM ranges and high torque at low speeds. Demands imposed by dry motors are less stringent. Efficiency and durability are therefore the most important criteria for lubricant design. 

This new facility houses a combination of standard and indigenous test benches to screen critical electrical properties of EV Fluids. The lab is also equipped with all field trial facilities including the assessment of NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) properties of EV Fluids.