MARYSVILLE, OH—Honda Motor Co.’s flagship factory here will be the automaker’s first U.S. facility to transition to making electric vehicles.

ZURICH—According to a study commissioned by ABB Robotics, more than half (59 percent) of respondents believe the shift to pure electric vehicle production is not achievable within current legislative timelines.

AUSTIN, TX—Tesla Inc. claims that it has developed a new assembly process that can reduce EV production costs by 50 percent, while reducing factory space by 40 percent.

Whether building new production lines or converting existing internal combustion engine assembly plants to produce electric vehicles, automakers need a broad array of flexible, open and proven automation technologies. 

Vehicle production plants are undergoing a massive transformation as automakers evolve from internal-combustion engines (ICE) to battery power. While EVs use fewer parts overall, those components tend to be heavier than their ICE equivalents. That demands new ways to deploy robots on assembly lines.