GM Performs Majority Of Its Cold Weather Testing At This Facility In Northern Ontario: Video
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General Motors performs the majority of its cold-weather testing at a little-known facility located north of border in a small Ontario town called Kapuskasing. It’s here where the automaker ensures vehicles intended for the North American market will perform as-expected in the winter, and with electric vehicles often struggling in cold conditions, Kapuskasing is set to become an even more important site for GM.
The Kapuskasing Proving Grounds, as the cold weather testing site is officially known, is spread across 272 acres of land in northern Ontario. It was first opened in 1973, but GM has been conducting cold-weather testing in the Kapuskasing area since 1941, when it began testing military vehicles there during the frigid winter months. These days, around 95 percent of GM’s cold weather testing is performed at the facility, though it does use its Milford Proving Ground for some vehicle programs. The GMC Hummer EV, for example, will not be tested at Kapuskasing, as it did not fit into the site’s test schedule. GM also performs some cold weather tests in the wind tunnel at the Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, Ontario.
The main attraction at Kapuskasing Proving Grounds is the 3.6 km advanced test track, which has full Wi-Fi coverage and a smart camera system that automatically follows vehicles as they’re in motion. There are also 30 indoor cold cells capable of recreating weather conditions reaching -45C, along with a battery lab and facility for testing how batteries perform in sub-zero conditions. GM tests between 150 and 250 vehicles annually at Kapuskasing, including many camouflage-clad prototypes that won’t reach production for several months.
Kapuskasing is set to become even more important amid GM’s transition to an all-electric future. Many electric vehicles still experience dips in motor performance battery range in extreme cold conditions, so GM engineers at the Ontario facility will be working hard to mitigate these effects as the race for EV supremacy heats up.
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The reference to batteries and the cold weather is interesting as I still have my original battery in my 2015 ATS Standard car. She’ll be six years old on March 31st.
I replaced the original battery in my ’07 Saturn Vue 2 summers ago and it’s been in Michigan it’s entire life with over 120,000mi. under it’s mounting block at that time. Back when I had my ’94 Corvette, someone asked about Delco Batteries and why he should stick with that instead of getting a Die Hard, on the Corvette Action Center Site, and the answer was that the Delco had a larger empty space under the plates to prevent plate shorting crud build up for a longer period of time.
gm must NOT have tested the 2020 L5P Duramax truck up there however !
Mine ” reduced power ” after an airflow sensor froze up on a 3 hour -2F trip !
” O ” thats right, it is MANDATORY on a $80,000.00 truck you HAVE to install that $1.50 piece of plastic on the front !
Otherwise, ” reduce power ” in the middle of no where, at -2 F
What again is gm bragging they are testing up there ?
Did GM test their cue screen failure rate in cold weather. I have a 2013 ATS with 50 000 clicks and a dead cue screen. So many people have had this system fail in extreme heat and cold and it only costs $1500 to replace at your dealer. Also I recommend you get a battery protector which sends a trickle charge to the battery if your car is going to sit idle for more than a couple weeks, as the battery in these junk mobiles can’t store enough power to keep all the things that require it to stay active when idle….of course it won’t matter if you have a cue screen as most electronics go through the cue scree and you won’t be able to access them ( some radio controls can be operated on the steering wheel, and I haven’t been able to tell time plus numerous other settings) However I can keep my ass warm.