Driving efficiency for China’s auto-makers

Over the past 20 years, China has developed its automotive industry to make the country by far the world’s largest car producer¹. It manufactures in excess of 30 million automobiles per year², around 12.5 million of which were electric vehicles (EVs) in 2024³ and those figures are predicted to grow⁴.

The dramatic rise of China’s automotive sector has been driven in part by government investment and policy incentives⁵, as well as by the adoption of advanced technology – where ABB is a leading partner – for manufacturing.

46 seconds to assemble a car body

At the Yichang factory of GAC Motor, an automobile body-in-white (the unpainted skeleton of a car) is assembled every 46 seconds in the framing station, thanks to a highly automated production line, developed in partnership with ABB.

Our innovative body-in-white robotic automation solution, installed in 2019, is the product of a collaboration between ABB and GAC that began a year earlier.

GAC’s requirement that a car body be produced every 46 seconds – a new industry benchmark – resulted in a production layout featuring 18 ABB robots in our GateFramer assembly system.

The eight high-performance IRB 6700 robots and 10 IRB 6650S robots can complete the positioning of body parts within 10 seconds and weld 72 joints in just 16 seconds.

It is our flexible vehicle assembly station with the most robots and the fastest speed in the world, allowing the Yichang factory to produce 200,000 vehicles per year. 

Accelerating to meet China’s EV demand

Not only is China the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicles, its domestic market for EVs is booming. The International Energy Agency (IEA), reports China’s EV sales in 2024 topped 11 million  – almost half of all its car sales.

Among our many partnerships with auto-makers in China, our collaboration with Volvo cars is helping to meet this soaring demand, while aligning with Volvo’s sustainability targets.

ABB is supplying the Volvo Cars factories in Daqing, China and Torslanda, Sweden, with more than 1,300 robots and functional packages to build the next generation of electric vehicles.

Our latest range of OmniCore robot controllers will help to deliver energy savings of up to 20 percent, thanks to their efficient power electronics and use of regenerative braking within the robot.

Meanwhile the packages combine hardware, software and services to cover tasks such as spot-welding, riveting and ultrasonic weld inspection.

Overall, the collaboration helps Volvo to achieve its sustainability targets.

Solutions across the production process

Our comprehensive portfolio of robotic solutions can meet a wide range of auto-makers' demands across traditional core applications – from press automation and body-in-white assembly, to painting and final-trim assembly. 

Additionally, ABB's capabilities extend to the manufacturing and assembly of batteries and motors, as well as related areas such as chassis, interior and exterior trim to address emerging EV manufacturing requirements.

One leading EV manufacturer in China has adopted our advanced vehicle painting solutions, using RB1000i-S atomizers to enhance quality, boost efficiency and reduce costs.

We have also provided more than 300 high-performance robots and a series of smart automation solutions, including AI-powered quality inspection technology, to a leading Chinese automotive parts manufacturer. 

Keeping the EV transition at full charge

“Ensuring that the availability of public charging keeps pace with electric vehicle sales is crucial for continued growth,” notes the IEA.

We’ve partnered in the construction of a Shanghai ‘Super Charging Site’ designed to do just that.

The Shanghai Beidi Super Charging Site covers an area of 6,832m2, with more than 100 fast- and super-fast charging parking spaces.

Together with the presence of ABB Formula E at the Shanghai International Circuit this weekend, the site is a potent reminder of China’s rapid advances in the EV and automotive sectors.

Sources:
1. thecarexpert.com
2. Ceicdata.com
3. IEA: Trends in the electric car industry
4. Goldmansachs.com
5. www.csis.org

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