The Two Poles of Cold Weather Prototype Testing

The Two Poles of Cold Weather Prototype Testing

Every car gets cold weather tested. And we mean every car.

You might think that certain cars don't need cold weather testing. Who's going to drive a supercar in the snow? Surprisingly, some people will. And that's why you test London Cabs and Zenvos in the Arctic.

First, there's the new electric London Taxi, developed by Geely and a bunch of ex-Volvo folks, seen here turned into a popsicle. This new platform will spawn a whole range of ultra-low emission commercial vehicles, starting with a van coming after the taxi.

Using Volvo's technology, the Chinese company spent $350m on TLC's new factory, creating more than 1000 new jobs in England. The site has the capacity to build more than 20,000 vehicles per year.

To make sure its products will work all over the world, TLC's test cars will cover more than 310,000 miles each, often in extreme conditions.

Geely's all new electric taxi goes on sale first in London in the fourth quarter of 2017, and then around the world in early 2018.

At the other pole of winter testing, we have Zenvo, the Danish supercar company celebrating its 10th anniversary and all the 11 cars they've built so far.

Seen here in action is the twin-supercharged TS1 development car, the yellow wonder making regular TS1 GTs so damn fast. 

Winter testing is crucial for checking cold starts, heating and defrosting performance, not to mention component durability. It's also a whole lot of fun, even if you're driving an electric taxi. But more so in a Zenvo

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