The humble wire harness, an inexpensive component that ties cables together, has become an impossible scourge for the auto industry. Some speculate that this combustion may have accelerated the collapse of cars.
Auto part supplies were disrupted by the war in Ukraine, which is home to a significant portion of the world’s production, with wire harnesses installed in hundreds of thousands of new vehicles each year.
These low-tech and low-margin parts – made of wire, plastic and rubber with little to no manual labor – can’t praise microchips and motors, yet cars can’t be built without them. could.
According to interviews with more than a dozen industry players and experts, the supply crunch could hasten some older auto firms’ plans to switch to a new generation of lighter, machine-made harnesses designed for electric vehicles. Is.
“This is just one more argument for the industry to hasten the transition to electricity,” said Sam FioraniHead of production forecasting firm AutoForecast Solutions.
Gasoline cars still contribute to new car sales globally; According to data from Jato Dynamics, EVs doubled last year to 4 million, but still comprise only 6% of vehicle sales.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida told Reuters that supply-chain disruptions such as the Ukraine crisis had prompted his company to talk to suppliers about moving away from the cheap-labour wire harness model.
In the immediate term, however, automakers and suppliers have shifted harness production to other low-cost countries.
Mercedes-Benz was able to fly in harness from Mexico to fill a brief supply gap, according to a person familiar with its operations. Some Japanese suppliers are adding capacity in Morocco, while others have sought new production lines in countries including Tunisia, Poland, Serbia and Romania.
Tesla pattern
Harnesses for fossil-fuel cars tie together up to 5 km (3.1 mi) of cables in the average vehicle, connecting everything from seat heaters to windows. They are labor-intensive to make, and almost every model is unique, so it is difficult to move production quickly.
The supply disruption in Ukraine was a harsh wake-up call for the auto industry. Carmakers and suppliers said that at the start of the war, the plants remained open only thanks to the determination of workers there, who kept the flow of parts low due to power cuts, air-raid warnings and curfews.
Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark said the British luxury carmaker initially feared losing 30-40% of its car production by 2022 due to harness shortages.
“The Ukraine crisis threatens to completely shut down our factory for several months, which is what we did for COVID.”
Hallmark said finding alternative production sources was complicated by the fact that conventional harnesses had 10 different parts from 10 different suppliers in Ukraine.
He added that supply problems intensified Bentley’s focus and investment on developing a simple harness for EVs that would be run by a central computer. The carmaker, a division of Volkswagen, is planning a fully electric lineup by 2030.
“The Tesla model, which is a completely different concept of wiring, we can’t change that overnight,” Hallmark said. “It’s a fundamental change in the way cars are designed.”
The new generation of wire harnesses used by electric natives such as Tesla can be built in sections on automated production lines and are lighter, an important factor as reducing the weight of an EV is key to increasing range.
Several executives and experts interviewed said fossil-fueled cars, which face imminent sanctions in Europe and China, are not enough to justify a redesign to allow them to use the next generation of harnesses. Will be
“I wouldn’t put a dime in an internal combustion engine anymore,” said the Michigan-based auto consultant. sandy monroeWhich estimates that EVs will make up half of global new car sales by 2028.
“The future is coming very fast.”
‘Change of Paradigm’
Walter Gluckhead of leonieof harness business, said the supplier was working with car manufacturers on new, automated solutions for wire harnesses in EVs.
Leoni is focusing on zonal or modular harnesses, which will be divided into six to eight parts, enough to reduce automation and complexity in assembly.
“It’s a change of paradigm,” Gluck said. “If you want to reduce production time at your car factory, a modular wire harness helps.”
According to a person with knowledge of the matter, among automakers, BMW is also looking at using modular wire harnesses, which require fewer semiconductors and fewer cables, which will save space and make them lighter.
The person, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said the new harness would also make it easier to upgrade vehicles wirelessly — an area Tesla now dominates.
selllinkA California-based startup has developed a fully automatic, flat and easy-to-install “flex harness,” and earlier this year raised $250 million from companies including BMW and auto supplier Lear Corp. Robert Bosch ,
CEO kevin cokeley Would not identify customers, but said CellLink’s harnesses were installed in about one million EVs.
Only Tesla has that scale, but the carmaker did not respond to a request for comment.
Kockle said that CellLink’s $125 million new factory under construction in Texas will have 25 automated production lines that will be able to switch different designs in about 10 minutes as components are manufactured from digital files.
He said the company is working with several car makers on electric vehicles and is looking at setting up another plant in Europe.
While the lead time to replace a traditional wire harness can be up to 26 weeks, Cockley said his company can ship the redesigned products in two weeks.
That kind of momentum is exactly what legacy carmakers are looking to go electric, said Dan Ratliff, a principal at Detroit-based venture capital firm Fontinalis Partners, which was founded by Ford Chairman Bill Ford and has invested in SellLink. .
For decades, the industry hasn’t needed to move fast enough to rethink a part like the wire harness, but Tesla has changed that, Ratliff said.
“On the EV side, it’s just go, go, go.”
Auto part supplies were disrupted by the war in Ukraine, which is home to a significant portion of the world’s production, with wire harnesses installed in hundreds of thousands of new vehicles each year.
These low-tech and low-margin parts – made of wire, plastic and rubber with little to no manual labor – can’t praise microchips and motors, yet cars can’t be built without them. could.
According to interviews with more than a dozen industry players and experts, the supply crunch could hasten some older auto firms’ plans to switch to a new generation of lighter, machine-made harnesses designed for electric vehicles. Is.
“This is just one more argument for the industry to hasten the transition to electricity,” said Sam FioraniHead of production forecasting firm AutoForecast Solutions.
Gasoline cars still contribute to new car sales globally; According to data from Jato Dynamics, EVs doubled last year to 4 million, but still comprise only 6% of vehicle sales.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida told Reuters that supply-chain disruptions such as the Ukraine crisis had prompted his company to talk to suppliers about moving away from the cheap-labour wire harness model.
In the immediate term, however, automakers and suppliers have shifted harness production to other low-cost countries.
Mercedes-Benz was able to fly in harness from Mexico to fill a brief supply gap, according to a person familiar with its operations. Some Japanese suppliers are adding capacity in Morocco, while others have sought new production lines in countries including Tunisia, Poland, Serbia and Romania.
Tesla pattern
Harnesses for fossil-fuel cars tie together up to 5 km (3.1 mi) of cables in the average vehicle, connecting everything from seat heaters to windows. They are labor-intensive to make, and almost every model is unique, so it is difficult to move production quickly.
The supply disruption in Ukraine was a harsh wake-up call for the auto industry. Carmakers and suppliers said that at the start of the war, the plants remained open only thanks to the determination of workers there, who kept the flow of parts low due to power cuts, air-raid warnings and curfews.
Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark said the British luxury carmaker initially feared losing 30-40% of its car production by 2022 due to harness shortages.
“The Ukraine crisis threatens to completely shut down our factory for several months, which is what we did for COVID.”
Hallmark said finding alternative production sources was complicated by the fact that conventional harnesses had 10 different parts from 10 different suppliers in Ukraine.
He added that supply problems intensified Bentley’s focus and investment on developing a simple harness for EVs that would be run by a central computer. The carmaker, a division of Volkswagen, is planning a fully electric lineup by 2030.
“The Tesla model, which is a completely different concept of wiring, we can’t change that overnight,” Hallmark said. “It’s a fundamental change in the way cars are designed.”
The new generation of wire harnesses used by electric natives such as Tesla can be built in sections on automated production lines and are lighter, an important factor as reducing the weight of an EV is key to increasing range.
Several executives and experts interviewed said fossil-fueled cars, which face imminent sanctions in Europe and China, are not enough to justify a redesign to allow them to use the next generation of harnesses. Will be
“I wouldn’t put a dime in an internal combustion engine anymore,” said the Michigan-based auto consultant. sandy monroeWhich estimates that EVs will make up half of global new car sales by 2028.
“The future is coming very fast.”
‘Change of Paradigm’
Walter Gluckhead of leonieof harness business, said the supplier was working with car manufacturers on new, automated solutions for wire harnesses in EVs.
Leoni is focusing on zonal or modular harnesses, which will be divided into six to eight parts, enough to reduce automation and complexity in assembly.
“It’s a change of paradigm,” Gluck said. “If you want to reduce production time at your car factory, a modular wire harness helps.”
According to a person with knowledge of the matter, among automakers, BMW is also looking at using modular wire harnesses, which require fewer semiconductors and fewer cables, which will save space and make them lighter.
The person, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said the new harness would also make it easier to upgrade vehicles wirelessly — an area Tesla now dominates.
selllinkA California-based startup has developed a fully automatic, flat and easy-to-install “flex harness,” and earlier this year raised $250 million from companies including BMW and auto supplier Lear Corp. Robert Bosch ,
CEO kevin cokeley Would not identify customers, but said CellLink’s harnesses were installed in about one million EVs.
Only Tesla has that scale, but the carmaker did not respond to a request for comment.
Kockle said that CellLink’s $125 million new factory under construction in Texas will have 25 automated production lines that will be able to switch different designs in about 10 minutes as components are manufactured from digital files.
He said the company is working with several car makers on electric vehicles and is looking at setting up another plant in Europe.
While the lead time to replace a traditional wire harness can be up to 26 weeks, Cockley said his company can ship the redesigned products in two weeks.
That kind of momentum is exactly what legacy carmakers are looking to go electric, said Dan Ratliff, a principal at Detroit-based venture capital firm Fontinalis Partners, which was founded by Ford Chairman Bill Ford and has invested in SellLink. .
For decades, the industry hasn’t needed to move fast enough to rethink a part like the wire harness, but Tesla has changed that, Ratliff said.
“On the EV side, it’s just go, go, go.”