ABB to paint SAIC Volkswagen’s first China EVs

ABB Robotics will provide advanced robotics painting solutions to SAIC Volkswagen for its first global New Energy Vehicle (NEV) factory.

Both have signed an agreement in relation to the Shanghai factory opening in 2020 with an annual capacity of 300,000 EVs from the Audi, Volkswagen and Skoda brands.

The NZ$3.8 billion factory will be characterised by automation and environmentally-friendly manufacturing technologies for the Volkswagen Group based on its modular electric driver kit (MEB), an automotive platform specifically designed for EV mass production.

ABB will install about 300 robots to provide painting and sealing solutions on three automated painting production lines. These solutions involve automobile exterior and interior painting, underbody painting, interior cosmetic seam sealing and interior plate wax-spraying.

“We are delighted to support China’s rapidly growing electric vehicle industry and to extend our partnership with Volkswagen as the company expands its electric vehicle manufacturing capabilities,” ABB Robotics and Discrete Automation president Sami Atiya says.

SAIC Group president Chen Hong says unprecedented changes are happening in the automobile industry, with electrification and digitalisation “inevitable trends”.

The Shanghai factory combines intelligent manufacturing and environmentally-friendly technologies focusing on water preservation, energy savings and carbon dioxide reduction.

The primer-less painting technology can improve paint utilisation rates and reduce waste.

Compared with the traditional painting process, it adopts a dry spray absorption system instead of a water circulation system, which can circulate air and use limestone to absorb the spray.

About 95% of the air can be reused and the limestone can be recycled resulting in energy savings of up to 60%. The emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC) can also be reduced by 63%, ABB says.

The total cycle time of the three painting production lines will reach 120 jobs per hour (JPH), the fastest in a single paint shop. In addition, all ABB robots will be able to be connected to ABB Ability digital solutions to prepare for the future digital deployment of the factory.

ABB, which operates in more than 100 countries, has sold 10,500 DC chargers, including high power chargers up to 350kW, across 73 countries.

It offers a full range of charging solutions for electric cars, electric and hybrid buses as well as electrification solutions for ships and railways.