At Automechanika Frankfurt 2026, Austrian testing company AVL DiTEST GmbH showed off new tools for testing and checking the safety of electric vehicles. These ranged from advanced e-motor testing equipment used by car manufacturers to simpler tools built for everyday repair shops. The company also revealed plans to build a dedicated battery repair kit, something it sees as an urgent and growing need in the aftermarket.

Among its OEM-focused offerings was a testing setup for a Gen 5 BMW e-motor, capable of performing isolation voltage withstand tests (also known as high-potential tests) and housing leakage checks. The system includes a rest-bus simulation, allowing it to communicate directly with a vehicle’s battery to close contactors and run full diagnostic sequences, making it suited for end-of-line production and service applications. It is not intended for typical aftermarket use, since it requires deep communication access to the e-motor and battery systems that most service centres, particularly in India, don’t have, Mr. Manuel Vollgruber, Product Line Manager- E-Mobility, AVL DiTEST GmbH, told this publication.

For genuine aftermarket use, AVL DiTEST showcased its newly developed FLEXconnect tool, designed to help technicians repair or rebalance electric vehicle battery modules. When a battery module develops an imbalance between cells, or needs replacement entirely, a new module must be charged to match the voltage of the others in the pack, something normally impossible without direct communication with the battery management system. FLEXconnect works around this by reading individual cell voltages directly, covering up to 10 cells at a time, and can charge at up to 2kW while discharging at 600W, with cell balancing capability up to 600 milliamps.

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