AVL List GmbH (“AVL”) with its headquarters in Graz, is one of the world’s leading mobility technology companies for development, simulation and testing in the automotive industry, and in other sectors such as rail, marine, and energy. Based on extensive in-house research activities, the company delivers concepts, technology solutions, methodologies, and development tools for a greener, safer, better world of mobility and beyond.
AVL supports international partners and customers in their sustainable and digital transformation. The focus lies on the areas of electrification, software, AI and automation.
With a holistic approach - from ideation phase to serial production - the company covers vehicle architectures and platform solutions including the impact of new propulsion systems and energy carriers.
AVL drives innovative and affordable solutions for all applications - from traditional to hybrid to battery and fuel cell electric technologies.
As a global technology provider, AVL’s offerings range from simulation, virtualization and test automation for product development to ADAS/AD and vehicle software. The company combines state-of-the-art and highly scalable IT, software and technology solutions with its application know-how, thereby offering customers extensive tools in areas such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity or Embedded Systems.
In addition, AVL supports companies in energy-intensive sectors on their way to a greener and more efficient energy generation and supply.
Innovation is AVL’s passion. Together with 12,200 employees at more than 90 locations and with 45 Tech and Engineering Centers worldwide, AVL is driving the future of mobility. In 2023, the company generated a turnover of 2.05 billion Euros, of which 10 % are invested in R&D activities.
In everything we do, we are relentlessly striving towards climate-neutral mobility.
Our values are the guiding force behind our daily work. They have shaped our corporate culture since the very beginning and are incorporated in all our business activities.
Pioneering spirit
Turning visions of the future into reality with courage and expertise. We have cultivated the ability to recognize important breakthrough targets early on and reach them ahead of the market. Only the courageous look beyond the horizon and make discoveries that lead to outstanding innovations.
Customer Orientation
Our success can only be measured by that of our customers. True understanding of a customer and their needs, combined with experience and a global view, allows us to create innovative solutions. Expertly conceived, uniquely tailored and efficiently carried out – a shared success.
Problem-Solving Competence
It’s a demanding world. A focus on research, cutting-edge technological developments and clear product orientation are fundamental requirements for global competitiveness. With multi-disciplinary teams, we offer expertise, creativity, innovative thinking, and effective project management to support professional solutions.
Responsibility
Modern mobility represents progress only when its goal, its form and its requirements respect nature. Our work at AVL reflects a deep understanding of the responsibility we share for our society, for mankind and for the world’s achievements. We want to ensure that our world is one we can live in—now and in the future.
Independence
AVL is a company with personality. Embodied in Helmut List and reflected in our work. A personality rooted in a life-long pursuit of knowledge, characterized by a deep sense of responsibility, and expressed in the company’s independent status.
As one of the world’s leading mobility technology companies for engineering, simulation, and testing, we constantly transform our portfolio of high-end methodologies and technologies to support our customers in achieving their mobility ambitions. From vehicle development and integration to e-mobility, automated and connected mobility (ADAS/AD) and software, we are driving innovation today, to build the mobility concepts of tomorrow.
With future-proven tools, products and systems augmented by our global network of experts and facilities, we support OEMs and Tier1s to shape current and future technologies for all applications.
Our passion is innovation. We foster our pioneering spirit by annually investing 10 % of our turnover into R&D activities, resulting in 2,200 Patents in force.
We are driven by a passion to examine the science, mechanics and philosophy of movement. To help create a world that is climate-neutral and one that makes safe, comfortable, green mobility a reality for everyone.
– Helmut O. List, Chairman and CEO, AVL List GmbH
We insist on the best possible quality standards for our customers. Therefore, we have implemented a Quality Management System which is ISO 9001 certified since 1992. Our high-quality standards are also reflected in the selection of suppliers.
We follow a proven, certified approach to quality, the environment, security, health and safety.
Get to know more about our purchasing activities, values and standards, as well as how to become a supplier.
AVL Leadership Team
Chaired by CEO Helmut List, our executive board directs the future path of AVL, driving strategic innovation, transformation, and development. Our leadership team guides and inspires our people and accelerates technological advancements with the goal to deliver the best solutions for our customers.
Innovation Starts With People
A career at AVL is full of possibilities. In our daily work we use all our imagination, creativity, and pioneering spirit to examine the science, mechanics, and philosophy of movement. Join our worldwide experts to shape the future of mobility together.
Our International Network
With 12,200 employees at more than 90 locations and with 50+ tech and engineering centers worldwide, we work with our customers locally from project start to a long-term partnership.
It is our passion to contribute to the resolution of social, cultural, and global issues— especially with regards to environmental protection, sustainability and global emission reduction. This is made possible by our outstanding colleagues worldwide, transparent processes as well as our carefully selected partners. Additionally, we are aware of our responsibility towards society and support outstanding projects across art, science and beyond driven by our AVL Cultural Foundation.
A team of diesel engine experts headed by Prof. Dr. Hans List set up the “Ingenieurbüro List” (IBL). The goal was to develop modern engines, based on the latest findings obtained from fundamental research, whilst at the same time take into account the growing economic criteria within the industry. 1949 the first diesel engines were already in mass production at the Jenbacher Werke in Tirol and the Andritz Machine Works in Graz.
In 1951, IBL became AVL – Anstalt für Verbrennungskraftmaschinen List. In 1952, the Central research premises were established in Kleiststraße with funds from the Marshall Plan. This site remains the home of our group headquarters and the central research and development premises. One of the most important achievements came in 1958 with the development of the first direct-injection four-stroke diesel engines for trucks to be equipped with swirl ducts. These replaced the two-stroke engines and four-stroke prechamber engines, which had been the norm to this point.
In 1960 AVL expands its business by including the engine instrumentation systems. In 1963, the intensive development of diesel engine technology led to the construction of an 18-cylinder, two-stroke diesel engine generating 2,250 hp. As well as engine development, we also began to manufacture engine testing devices in the early 1960s, and started the series production of quartz pressure sensors, gravimetric fuel consumption measuring equipment, flue gas measuring devices, and complete engine combustion analysis systems. In 1969, the first fully-automatic digital testbed was installed at our headquarters.
At the start of the 1970s, the first fully-automatic AVL test beds went on sale. Other milestones achieved in this decade were the development of capsule technology to soundproof engines, as well as the development of DI diesel engines for passenger cars in 1974. Two years later, we presented the first prototype of a light diesel engine (LD). In 1979 Helmut List, who had been working for the company since 1966 and is the son of the company’s founder, took over as chairman of the board of management.
In 1982, we introduced a procedure that allowed real-time insights into the combustion processes of diesel engines. In 1985, we commissioned a highly-dynamic test bench, with which it was possible to test a real engine in a virtual car for the first time. In 1986, large-scale production began of the world’s first HSDI diesel engine (High Speed Direct Engine), developed by AVL, as a drive system for light commercial vehicles. In 1987 AVL launches its newest division, Advanced Simulation Technologies.
In the 1990s, we implemented tomographic combustion analysis (TCA). This made it possible to visually record combustion phenomena in production-based Otto engines. We also started dealing with the topic of electrification at an early stage and, in 1992, joined forces with a manufacturer to develop the testbed demonstrator for a full hybrid drive. This Universal Hybrid System (UHS) combined a combustion engine with two electric engines via a planetary gear. From 1993, we were the first company in the world to supply specific motorsport test beds, with which it was possible to simulate the dynamic requirements of racing engines (for example, Formula 1 and the Indy Series).
In 2002, we opened our test track in Gratkorn, near Graz. In the same year we took over the MTC AB engine test center in Sweden. In 2003, the Helmut List Hall in Graz opened as an event center for up to 2,400 visitors. Also in 2003, we took over the German engine developer Schrick. In 2007, we ramped up our internationalization with the acquisition of French drive system service provider Le Moteur Moderne. In 2008, the new subsidiary “AVL Software and Functions GmbH” was founded in Regensburg, Germany.
The “AVL Shanghai Tech Center” battery laboratory opened in 2010. This was followed in 2015 by a second technical center in China: the “AVL Tianjin Technical Center”. In 2014, we acquired a controlling stake in qpunkt, a company specializing in thermal management, fluid dynamics and acoustics. In 2016, we entered into a partnership with Greenlight Innovation Corp., one of the world’s leading providers of test and production facilities for hydrogen fuel cells, electrolyzers, batteries and energy storage systems. In 2017, we and TU Graz commissioned a joint competence center for the research and development of innovative transmission systems. Further facilities followed in the form of the ADAS battery test lab in Graz in 2018. In the same year we founded AVL Fuel Cell Canada Inc. (“AVL FCC”), a global center of excellence for Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell stacks, with headquarter in Vancouver, Canada. In 2019, AVL offered its comprehensive know-how in new technologies to the maritime business and opens its very first AVL maritime office in Hamburg.
In 2021, the Battery Innovation Center opened in Graz: a competence center for innovative battery concepts, with which we support the automobile industry in its shift to e-mobility. 2022 was an exciting year: we officially opened our new Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Test Center, one of the largest and most advanced test sites for fuel cells and electrolysis systems in the world, in Graz. In parallel, the new Mobility and Sensor Test Center in Roding, Germany, has been established, which is a unique indoor laboratory for the verification and validation of sensors for driver assistance systems. Moreover, we established a unique engineering facility to test conventional and future vehicles in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary. It is directly connected to the AVL ZalaZONE proving ground and provides an all-around solution to test ADAS/AD systems in a real-world environment. Furthermore, we opened our new office in San Sebastián in addition to existing three subsidiaries in Spain.
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