Tata Motors, MAHLE ink pact to co-develop new AC system

Tata Motors today said it has signed an agreement with MAHLE, a leading supplier of ancillaries to automotive industry, for joint development of a new air-conditioning system that reduces short-lived climate pollutants.
The company has signed a joint development agreement for designing and developing a Secondary Loop Mobile Air Conditioning System (SL-MAC), under the aegis of United Nations Environment, Tata Motors said in a statement.
The project is co-ordinated by the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (IGSD).
MAHLE, Tata Motors and IGSD have received funding for developing the SL-MAC system from the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) to reduce short-lived climate pollutants, it added.

CCAC is a global initiative to support fast action and make a difference in the areas of climate, public health, and food and energy security.
This project envisages use and trial of environment friendly, low global warming potential refrigerants -- HF01234yf (ASHRAE A2L) and HFC-152a (ASHRAE A2), it added.

A Tata vehicle based on a new generation platform for utility vehicles, consisting of a more complex architecture with front and rear air conditioning system, has been selected for this joint development programme, the company said.
The SL-MAC system will first be installed in the Tata utility vehicle as a prototype, it added.

The prototype will be tested on the Indian roads later in the third quarter of 2017, where long seasons of hot and humid weather and stop-start driving conditions make a secondary loop air conditioning system highly advantageous, the company said.
"As a part of our R&D efforts, we are committed to pioneering and inventing solutions to a greener future in the auto industry and this initiative is a step in that direction," Tata Motors Chief Technology Officer Tim Leverton said.
On April 7, a team comprising representatives of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the Mobile Air Conditioning Society Worldwide (MACS), the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), MAHLE, Tata Motors and IGSD had reviewed the newly constructed SL-MAC system and the prototype at the MAHLE Behr facility in Lockport, New York.