China's automobile industry is accelerating its transformation to electrification and intelligence under the drive of “dual-carbon” target and intelligent network technology. As the core carrier of the automotive electrical system, the wiring harness industry is facing the double challenge of technological innovation and industrial upgrading. We are based on industry research and technology foresight analysis, here for you to organize a summary of some technology trends.
High-voltage wiring harness: new energy vehicle outbreak to promote technology iteration
With the penetration rate of new energy vehicles exceeded 40%, 800V high-voltage platform to accelerate the popularization of high-temperature resistance, high shielding performance of high-voltage wiring harness demand surge. Copper alloy wire, silicone insulation will become the mainstream, while the harness is required to meet the ISO 26262 functional safety standards, to enhance the anti-electromagnetic interference (EMI) capabilities. 2025 global high-voltage wiring harness market size is expected to reach $18 billion (China accounted for 45%), ningde times and amperex joint development of ultra-high-voltage liquid-cooled wiring harnesses, adaptable to 1000V platform.
Lightweight materials: the rise of aluminum wiring harness and carbon fiber composite solutions
To cope with range anxiety and energy efficiency requirements, the lightweight solution of replacing traditional copper wires with aluminum wires will be applied on a large scale. Carbon fiber composite sheath, thin-wall insulation technology to further reduce the weight of the wiring harness, helping to reduce the weight of the entire vehicle by 10% -15%.
High-speed data transmission: popularization of in-vehicle Ethernet wiring harnesses
L3+ intelligent driving drives the soaring demand for in-vehicle network bandwidth, and gigabit in-vehicle Ethernet (GBASE-T1) harnesses have become standard. Twisted-pair shielded structure, low-latency signaling technology will dominate the data interaction architecture of ADAS and intelligent cockpit. Single pair twisted pair transmission rate of 1Gbps, delay <100ns, to meet the demand for real-time decision-making for L4 autonomous driving. Ideal L9 adopts Ethernet backbone network and reduces wire harness length by 40%. Great Wall Motor Coffee Intelligence 2.0 platform, Ethernet harness connects 4 LIDARs and 12 cameras, data transmission delay reduced by 60%.
Intelligent manufacturing: Industry 4.0 drives flexible production
AI quality inspection, machine vision, digital twin technology to fully penetrate the wiring harness factory, fully automated crimping, laser marking process penetration rate of more than 60%. MES system to achieve from design to delivery of the whole process of digital management, cost reduction and efficiency is significant. 2025, the domestic wiring harness factory automation rate will be up to 75%, the cost of labor is reduced by 40%, and the defect rate is reduced from 0.5% to less than 0.1%.
Modular design: platform architecture to reshape the supply chain
The platformization strategy of automobile enterprises promotes the modular and integrated design of wiring harnesses, such as BYD e-platform 3.0, which reduces the types of plugs and connectors from 120 to 30, and improves the assembly efficiency by 25%. The standardization of plugs and the integration of Zone Control Units (ZCUs) have shortened the development cycle and reduced assembly complexity by 30%. Amperex launched the “Smart Vehicle Architecture (SVA)”, which enables wiring harness suppliers to move from single-part delivery to “modular system integration”, shortening development cycles by 6 months.
Green and Sustainable: Breakthroughs in Environmentally Friendly Materials and Recycling Technologies
EU Battery Regulation (2027) and China's dual-carbon policy are forcing the industry to transform, and bio-based biodegradable insulating materials (e.g. PLA) and halogen-free flame-retardant sheathing are accelerating the replacement of traditional PVC. BASF's Ultramid® Bio, which utilizes castor oil as raw material and has a reduced carbon footprint of 60%, has already been applied in batch in the sheathing of the wiring harnesses for SGM's ZhiJi L7. Closed-loop recycling technology achieved over 95% utilization rate of copper and aluminum resources.
Wireless Exploration: Localized Wireless Harness Solution Pilot
For short-distance communication between sensors and actuators, wireless harness (Wireless Harness) has been applied in doors, seats and other sub-systems to reduce cable length by 20%-30%, such as the BMW iX, which uses Bluetooth+UWB technology to realize the transmission of door unlocking signals, reducing the number of harnesses by 12, and reducing the weight by 0.8 kg. However, the short-term hybrid architecture is still dominated by the Wired+Wireless architecture. But in the short term, “wired + wireless” hybrid architecture is still the main. Wireless transmission reliability (99.999%) and real-time (<10ms) is still behind the wired, 2025 hybrid architecture will account for more than 80%.
Thermal management technology: wiring harnesses for extreme environments have become a necessity.
800V high-voltage fast charging, cold area battery heating demand has given rise to -40 ℃ ~ 150 ℃ wide temperature domain harness, the use of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coating, liquid-cooled heat conduit and other technologies, to ensure signal stability in high and low temperature environments.
Safety and Testing: Simulation and Verification Technology Upgrade
Driven by the dual standards of functional safety (ISO 26262) and network safety (ISO/SAE 21434), the virtual simulation test platform covers wiring harness durability, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) validation, shortening the test cycle by 50%, and reducing the failure rate to less than 0.1‰.
In 2025, China's automotive wiring harness industry will present “high-pressure, lightweight, intelligent, green” four-fold change. We need to focus on material innovation, process upgrading and ecological synergy, in order to seize the high ground in the global automotive supply chain changes. Competition will not only be a competition of technology, but also a competition of supply chain synergy and ecological integration ability. Enterprises need to continue to deepen their efforts in the three dimensions of materials, technology and intelligence to lead the industry change.