With assistance from the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC), automotive manufacturer Premcar has embarked on an ambitious $1.53 million defence program to engineer and enhance its powertrain offering to be globally relevant for land-based military vehicles.
This brings Premcar’s drivetrain into the modern era and opens the potential for exports from Australia.
The expansive program tasked Premcar with designing, engineering, fitting and testing the significantly more advanced drivetrain for an existing vehicle.
It also involved ensuring it met or exceeded taxing quality, reliability, durability and performance metrics for local and global defence use.
“Programs like the defence powertrain project are transformative for manufacturing and engineering businesses like Premcar. It is one thing to be trusted with consumer products and another to work alongside the defence industry to deliver something as critical as a drivetrain,” said CEO of Premcar, Bernard Quinn.
“As a result of the AMGC project, we are now a diversified business operating in the defense sector, employing more staff and equipped to pursue opportunities in the rail and road infrastructure sectors, thanks to the skills and certifications gained along the way.”
Starting with a rolling chassis, the Premcar team developed new, intake and exhaust systems, engine charge air cooling systems, engine mounts, lubrication systems, electrical wiring (including integration into the existing vehicle communications (CAN-bus) systems), engine control, cooling systems, and fuel systems.
Additionally, the team handled total packaging and transmission calibration for the drivetrain.
Upskilling and continuously learning throughout the program, the Premcar team and its industrial partner, Cummins, completed the program in under two years.
The project culminated in a defence and OEM partner field trail at the Australian Automotive Research Centre (AARC) in Victoria – with Premcar’s work exceeding expectations.
During the two-year project, six new roles were created, and 11 existing staff members were upskilled at the manufacturer’s headquarters.
Furthermore, successful certification and testing of the Premcar drivetrain now opens export opportunities for defence vehicles from Australia with other nations understood to be evaluating use of the vehicle.
To learn more about Premcar’s project, visit: https://www.amgc.org.au/project/land-based-military-vehicle-development/