The Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD Auto Company Limited is building its first European passenger car plant.

To equip it with painting technology, BYD selected Dürr. Over the coming months, the German mechanical and plant engineering company will send more than 120 robots to Hungary for various painting lines. These robots, fitted with EcoBell3 atomisers, deliver outstanding quality and support sustainable painting.

BYD Auto Company Limited, one of China’s largest vehicle manufacturers and ranks among the market leaders in electric vehicle sales. Now, the company is becoming one of the first Chinese car manufacturers to build a European car factory, located in Szeged, Hungary, . For painting its “New Energy Vehicles” (NEV), BYD has partnered with Dürr,  one of the world’s leading mechanical and plant engineering firms to supply and install more than 120 painting and handling robots.

“As a world market leader in automotive painting, Dürr is the right partner to implement projects of this size successfully and on schedule. It was not just our outstanding technology that won over BYD, but also our experience in Hungary, where we have already completed a number of projects,” explains Dr. Lars Friedrich, Head of the Application Technology division at Dürr. This is the first order the company has received from the Chinese carmaker in the passenger car segment after Dürr Systems AG was successfully audited by BYD before being considered as a supplier.

Latest robot generation for painting process

The painting lines will use Dürr’s latest EcoRP series painting robot, available in both six- and seven-axis variants for interior and exterior painting. The seven-axis robot offers high precision and flexibility for interior painting, reaching even the most difficult to access areas. Six-axis robots will handle exterior painting. The scope of supply also includes the corresponding door, lid, and flap openers as additional aids for the painting process.

Sustainable paint application

EcoBell3 high-speed rotary atomisers ensure flawless painting quality with uniform shade, flow, and layer thickness. When combined with the associated cleaning equipment and colour change technology, the atomiser family minimises paint and solvent consumption and enables fast colour changes within the cycle time. In future, BYD will also be able to sustainably implement customers’ special colour requests using Dürr’s standardised, modular EcoSupply P paint supply system with pigging technology. The ”pigs” –fitting bodies matched exactly to the internal diameter of the hoses– push paint to the colour changer and return any leftover paint back into the paint container, leaving absolutely no trace of residue and eliminating the need for cleaning. This process reduces paint and the rinsing agent consumption, benefiting both budget and the environment.

Automated body cleaning

The supply scope also includes cleaning robots that remove dust and dirt particles from the bodies before painting. Flexible-action feather rollers clean different body shapes efficiently and independently of each other in nearly any combination and order – ideal for BYD’s various NEV types.

For more information about Dürr and its innovations, visit www.durr.com.