ABB’s IRB-7720 modular industrial robot arm. | Credit: ABB
ABB Robotics’ third Automotive Manufacturing Outlook Survey offers some great insights into how automotive manufacturing leaders and key suppliers view electric vehicle (EV) production objectives. According to the surveythere is a positive outlook from manufacturing leaders on the growth of EV production in 2025.
Thirty-one percent of the 434 survey respondents predicted EV output would increase by more than 10%. A further 44% said production would grow in 2025 by up to 10%. Meanwhile, only 21% of respondents believed EV production would either remain static (8%) or decline (13%) through 2025.
“This year’s survey found that overall, automotive manufacturing professionals are optimistic about EV production growth in 2025, but unsure about reaching 100 percent electric vehicle production timetables due to factors now often beyond the factory environment,” said Joerg Reger, managing director of ABB’s automotive business Line. “There’s strong evidence that EV manufacturing capabilities are now considerably improved, and significant change has taken place in terms of introducing new production technology as well as upskilling workforces. ABB Robotics has made wide-scale changes to our own robotic and automation portfolio to support our customers and drive this transformation forward at pace.”
Despite the optimistic EV forecast from manufacturing experts, there was a decline in confidence about meeting proposed EV deadlines. When asked whether 100% EV production was achievable to meet regional deadlines set between 2030-2040, 31% believed this was an impossible target compared to 27% the previous year and just 18% in 2022. Overall, 65% were skeptical about achieving full EV production within the 2030-2040 timeframe.
Further examination of the downturn in confidence found that the main barriers were now deemed to be ‘outside the factory’ with levels of consumer demand and confidence in charging infrastructure. The survey also indicated that manufacturing experts are predicting strong growth in hybrid powertrains during 2025, with 67% of those surveyed believing that plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) production would grow and 20% forecasting that production would increase by over 10%. Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) figures were equally optimistic with 62% of those surveyed expecting output to grow in 2025.
“Hybrid passenger vehicle production remains buoyant with the global manufacturing community expecting to produce more cars in 2025. These results support the survey’s main findings that the overall pace of EV adoption is currently not fast enough to reach some of the upcoming legislative deadlines for a 100% electric future,” said Daniel Harrison, chief analyst for Automotive Manufacturing Solutions.
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“Within the manufacturing environment, the production of numerous powertrains across several model lines can create considerable complexity and additional cost, which has been pinpointed in our previous surveys produced in partnership with ABB Robotics.”
Automotive has traditionally been the backbone of the robotics industry. In 2020, however, the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) found that yearly orders of robots for non-automotive sectors surpassed automotive robot orders for the first time in North America. Fast forward to last year, automotive orders declined 15% in 2024 compared to 2023 in North America, according to A3. A3 said it was optimistic automotive orders will bounce back by the end of 2025.
“I think there is room to grow in automotive,” Alex Shikany, executive vice president of A3, recently told The Robot Report. “What we saw over the last two years, with the lower quantities of orders, had a lot more to do with manufacturers pivoting their strategies with regard to not getting the performance they thought they would get out of all their electric ambitions.”
What are your expectations for how the automotive industry and EVs will impact robotics sales in 2025? Let us know in the comments.
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Robotics impact on EVs
When questioned about how well manufacturing companies are embracing robotics, new OEMs, startups, and pop-up manufacturers were the leading adopters with 63% investing “very well” or “quite well.” This was matched by 63% of technology specialists investing “very well” or “quite well” in robotics, leading all other manufacturing groups.
In third place were legacy OEMs with 53% investing “very well” or “quite well” in robotics, the survey found. Referencing the previous survey results, new OEMs, startups, and pop-up manufacturers who were embracing robotics and automation “very well” or “quite well” dropped from 66% in 2023 to 63% in 2024, indicating a slight decline in perceived adoption.
According to the survey, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) exhibited the highest expected increase, with 25% predicting a strong increase and 39% expecting a slight increase. Collaborative robots (cobots) were in second place with 22% predicting a strong increase and 35% expecting a slight increase, followed by articulated robots in third place with 19% predicting a strong increase and 39% expecting a slight increase.
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Yes, humanoids also made the list. According to the survey, humanoids were cited to strongly increase by 27% of Asian respondents, compared to only 5% in Europe and just 2% in North America. Several humanoid manufacturers are testing with automakers, including Apptronik, Boston Dynamics, Figure, and UBTech, to name a few. Of course, Tesla is also developing humanoids.
UBTech this week released a video showcasing a swarm of humanoids performing a variety of tasks and working together inside a Zeekr smart factory in China. You can watch the video below.
According to the survey, 54% of respondents see anticipated high initial costs as the greatest obstacle to smart factory implementation.
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