Comau designs and deploys flexible automation solutions for the mass production of NIO’s next-generation electric drive systems
The high-performance production line supports the co-line production of NIO’s two electric drive systems, and is expected to achieve 1 million sets of full capacity by the end of 2024
Advanced manufacturing environment covers the motor assembly line, reducer assembly line, inverter assembly line and EOL test line and other main lines
Comau has developed new adapters with zero positioner to support different assembly tasks and ensure production flexibility

Recently, Comau implemented a high-performance turnkey solution to enable the efficient automated production of NIO’s next-generation EDS electric drive system. The success of this multi-directional project ensures rapid and reliable collinear production of NIO’s two core proprietary electric drive systems: third-generation induction motors and permanent magnet motors. The integrated solution includes main production lines such as motor assembly line, gear box manufacturing and inverter assembly line, as well as EOL test line and so on. The program is designed to support the mass production of 1 million EDS units per year, and the systems will be widely used in NIo’s electric sedans, coupes and SUVs, as well as some models of its ALPS subsidiary brand.

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Comau advanced automation solutions offer superior flexibility and scalability, allowing customers to flexibly adapt their production lines to new product process parameters as needed. To further increase the flexibility of the production line and enable the co-production of the two electric drive systems, Comau and the NiO Drive team have jointly developed a new adapter with a zero positioner, an innovative accessory that effectively unifies the design, process and inspection benchmarks to maintain maximum flexibility while meeting different assembly needs.

Comau’s highly automated manufacturing environment, equipped with 3D vision guided robots, AGV carts for automatic feed and automatic tool-side loaders, offers customers significant productivity gains. In addition, through the extensive use of tetroscopic 3D cameras, Comau successfully breaks the limitations of visual guidance technology in terms of field of view and grasp range, ensuring automatic positioning and assembly of parts, and achieving excellent repeatability accuracy.

“Extensive experience and technical expertise are key to success when implementing leading-edge technology solutions. Through this cooperation, we deeply feel Comau’s strong strength in the field of electric drive system assembly. Its innovative solutions provide solid support for the project, allowing us to overcome various challenges and ensure that the project achieves the expected results, “said Shuxiang Zeng, senior Vice President of NIO and CEO of NIO Drive Technologies. “We adopted a simultaneous engineering development approach, which was effectively promoted in close collaboration with both parties, not only to ensure the progress of the project and cost control, but also to ensure the quality and reliability of the final product.”

“The rapid growth of China’s new energy vehicle market, the first half of 2023 production and sales increased by 42.4% and 44.1%, respectively, in this context, the demand for electric drive systems continues to rise.” Comau Asia Pacific head of Yuan Yingjun said. “We have worked closely with NIO to create highly automated production lines that help customers reduce costs and increase efficiency, as well as improve the performance of their next-generation EDS technology.”