The University of Michigan Board of Regents has approved a $26 million renovation of the Walter E. Lay Automotive Engineering Laboratory, modernizing one of the university’s longest-running automotive research facilities and expanding its role in electric vehicle and battery research.
The project will renovate approximately 7,000 gross square feet across five of the lab’s 19 test cells. The upgraded space will include a modular electric vehicle and component testbed laboratory, a battery management system instructional laboratory and improved high-bay areas for vehicle and shop work.
The investment will also address major infrastructure needs in the building, which dates to 1957.
Planned work includes building code upgrades and replacement of substations, power distribution systems, air handlers, overhead doors and process cooling water infrastructure, along with broader architectural, electrical and mechanical improvements.
The renovation is intended to strengthen the university’s Electric Vehicle Center, which was created through a major partnership between the state of Michigan and U-M.
Michigan lawmakers allocated $130 million in the state’s 2022-23 budget to establish the center, with $50 million directed toward collaborative research and development, $20 million for workforce education and $60 million for campus infrastructure, including the Lay Auto Lab renovation.
The expanded laboratory will give faculty, students and industry partners additional resources for testing electric vehicles, batteries, components and related systems while maintaining research and education involving internal combustion engines and hybrid powertrains.
That combination preserves the lab’s traditional role in automotive engineering while adapting it to an industry increasingly centered on electrification, battery technology and software-driven vehicle systems.
The Lay Auto Lab has played a significant role in U-M’s automotive engineering history.
The facility traces its origins to a wooden shed used to support the university’s first automotive engineering courses in 1913 under mechanical engineering professor Walter E. Lay.
The current North Campus facility was completed in 1957 after the state provided $1.85 million for construction and Michigan’s automotive industry contributed another $500,000 in equipment. At the time, the facility was considered one of the most advanced automotive research and teaching laboratories at an American university.
Over the decades, research conducted at the Auto Lab has addressed areas including engine cooling, vehicle streamlining, reliability, fuel efficiency and emissions.
The facility has also trained generations of engineers who went on to work throughout the automotive industry.
Its mission has increasingly shifted toward batteries and electric vehicles as the automotive industry undergoes another major technological transition.
The renovation will be funded through College of Engineering resources, including funding associated with the state of Michigan’s investment in the Electric Vehicle Center, Office of the Provost resources and university reserves.
SmithGroup will serve as the architectural firm for the project. Construction is scheduled to be completed in winter 2028.
The investment positions the Lay Auto Lab to remain a core U-M automotive engineering facility while providing the Electric Vehicle Center with additional infrastructure for research, teaching and workforce development around next-generation mobility technologies.
