Gwangju Eco-Friendly Automobile Parts Certification Center to be Completed in July

Established 26 Types of Certification and Evaluation Equipment... Sequential Operation Starting from September

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 10th that the nation's only eco-friendly automobile parts certification center, which is being promoted as a key project to establish a leading eco-friendly automobile city, will be completed in July.

The Eco-friendly Automobile Parts Certification Center, being built in Bitgreen Industrial Complex, is the first national institution for eco-friendly vehicle parts certification in the country. It aims to actively respond to the rapidly increasing demand for eco-friendly vehicle certification and after-sales management, as well as to handle safety certification and evaluation.

The construction of the certification center is a two-story building project that began in August last year. It is currently building three buildings: a crash test building, an impact test building, and a battery test building, with a current progress rate of 31%, targeting completion in July.

Once the building is completed, installation of various certification and evaluation equipment will begin immediately.

The certification and evaluation equipment includes a total of 26 types: 7 types of eco-friendly vehicle battery evaluation equipment, 7 types of crash safety evaluation equipment, 8 types of impact safety evaluation equipment, and 4 types of fire reproduction and legally required auxiliary equipment. Installation will be completed by next year.

The battery test building consists of 8 test rooms, 5 of which will be equipped with explosion-proof structures to prepare for battery fires and explosions. Additionally, vibration and impact testers capable of testing electric bus batteries weighing up to 2 tons will be installed, along with immersion and compression testers to evaluate safety during battery submersion.

New domestic battery safety evaluation test methods, strengthened to meet international standards, are scheduled to be revised this year. Among the 12 newly established tests, 11 will be primarily conducted in Gwangju. The remaining combustion test will be performed once the Asia's largest real-vehicle explosion-proof combustion test room, which is under construction this year, is completed.

The crash test building will enable numerous tests stipulated by domestic and international safety standards to assess passenger protection during eco-friendly vehicle collisions and the safety of high-voltage batteries. Facilities will be equipped to conduct vehicle-to-vehicle crash tests and simulate collision speeds of 100 km/h, covering a range of eco-friendly vehicles from ultra-compact electric cars to vehicles with a total weight under 3.5 tons.

The impact test building consists of 8 test rooms, including an internal impact test room, and will be equipped with testing facilities such as side door and roof strength testers to evaluate the structural strength of parts ensuring driver safety.

Through this, it is expected to evaluate the body strength of dedicated platforms for eco-friendly vehicles such as electric cars.

Currently, the only certification and testing institution in Korea capable of performing both crash and impact tests is the Automobile Safety Research Institute under the Korea Transportation Safety Authority located in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. However, with the establishment of the Eco-friendly Automobile Certification Center, it is expected to rapidly support eco-friendly vehicle research and development for automobile manufacturers in the southern region.

Once all these testing and evaluation equipment are installed, the center will conduct tests on all eco-friendly vehicles as part of the national policy projects for automobile manufacturing defect investigations and vehicle safety evaluations.

It will also support safety standard evaluation certification tests tailored to the needs of manufacturers developing eco-friendly vehicles and parts.

To enable the application of international safety standards for future vehicles domestically, basic research to evaluate conformity with safety standards can be conducted.

The certification center will begin operations sequentially starting with the battery test building in September after the center's completion in July and subsequent equipment installation.

The battery test building will be equipped with 7 types of eco-friendly vehicle battery evaluation equipment to perform all real-vehicle unit tests. Next year, 7 types of evaluation equipment will be installed and operated in the crash test rooms, and 8 types of evaluation equipment along with legally required auxiliary equipment will be operated in the impact test rooms.

Gwangju City signed an MOU with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Transportation Safety Authority in August 2019 to expand the project. As a second phase, plans are underway to add certification fields such as hydrogen vehicles and electronic components, indicating that comprehensive eco-friendly vehicle certification will be conducted in Gwangju.

Son Kyung-jong, Director of the AI Industry Bureau of the city, said, “With the operation of the Eco-friendly Automobile Parts Certification Center, one-stop service support for development, evaluation, and certification is possible,” and added, “We will actively strive to foster high value-added eco-friendly vehicle industries in the region.”

Meanwhile, in the Bitgreen Industrial Complex, an automobile-exclusive industrial complex, the Global Motors factory, a ‘Gwangju-type job’ factory, is nearing completion alongside the certification center. The large-scale eco-friendly automobile parts cluster project, with a budget of 303 billion KRW, is also actively underway.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.