Iran has unveiled a domestically-manufactured electronic control unit (ECU) for cars that run on the fuel-efficient EU5 engines.
Reports in the local media said that the ECU unveiled on Thursday is a joint product of the largest carmaker the IKCO and Iran Electronics Industries (IEI), a company owned by the Iranian defense ministry.
They said that Emad, a semiconductor subsidiary of the IEI and IKCO’s engine subsidiary IPCO have jointly designed and developed the high-tech device.
The ECU EU5, as it was named in signs in the the unveiling ceremony, will be capable of working on engines that use modern valve actuators to reduce harmful emissions, they said.
The unveiling marks a significant step in Iran’s efforts to offset the impacts of American sanctions on its domestic manufacturing sector. Iran’s minister of defense and the country’s minister of industries attended the ceremony to unveil the ECU.
Before the unveiling, Iran was forced to spend heavily on imports of modern ECUs for its domestically manufactured cars.
A report by the official IRNA news agency said that the new ECU is the latest in a string of high-tech car parts, including conventional ECUs, airbag systems, electronic immobilizers and turbochargers, that have been designed and manufactured by Emad Semiconductors.
The IEI bought Emad in 2011 when it was listed in the local Iranian exchange market amid plans by the Iranian defense ministry to expand its work on technologically sophisticated products.
Based on an understanding reached in 2019, the defense ministry agreed to supply the technology required for manufacturing of complex parts in the Iranian automotive sector.
The agreement came a year after the United States imposed sanctions on Iran and made it difficult for local car manufacturers to import parts and equipment from abroad.