VOA新闻杂志--一个简单的零件如何改变汽车行业

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How a Simple Part Could Change the Automobile² Industry

The wire harness is a low-cost car part that connects wires together. But, production of the parts has been causing problems in the auto¹ industry. Some predict this simple part could speed the change from gas-powered cars to electric cars.

The war in Ukraine has limited supplies of the wire harness. Ukraine usually produces wire harnesses for hundreds of thousands of new vehicles every year.

Low-wage workers put these necessary car parts together using wire, plastic, and rubber.

Automobile industry experts say the lack of wire harnesses for gas engines could make electric vehicles (EVs) more popular. They use a kind of lighter³, machine-made harness.

Most new cars worldwide are still gasoline-powered but electric vehicle sales grew to four million last year. Michigan-based auto expert Sandy Munro estimates electric vehicles will make up half of worldwide new car sales by 2028. "The future is coming up awful fast," Munro said.

Because of the supply problems caused by the war in Ukraine, carmakers have been trying to make the harnesses in other countries with low labor⁴ costs.

Mercedes-Benz was able to import harnesses from Mexico. Some Japanese suppliers are increasing production in Morocco. Others are seeking new producers in countries including Tunisia, Poland, Serbia, and Romania.

The Tesla model

Auto manufacturers also are exploring new ways to make wire harnesses.

Adrian Hallmark is the head of Bentley. He said that the British carmaker feared losing 30 to 40 percent of its car production for 2022 because of the lack of harnesses.

"The Ukraine crisis threatened to close our factory fully⁵ for several months, much longer than we did for COVID."

He added that the supply problems had increased Bentley's interest in developing a simple harness for electric vehicles. This new harness would be controlled by a central computer. Bentley, a division of Volkswagen, plans a group of products by 2030.

Electric car manufacturers such as Tesla use new, simpler wire harnesses. Machines can put them together. They are also lighter, which is important because less weight permits electric vehicles to go farther.

Changing the model

Walter Glück is head of harness supply at the German company Leoni. He said that Leoni is working with carmakers on new, automated⁷ production methods for wire harnesses for electric vehicles. Leoni is developing harnesses that are made of six to eight separate parts. These harnesses will be simple enough to use automated production.

CelLink, a new company based in the American state of California, has developed a fully automated, flat "flex⁸ harness" that is easy to install.

CelLink head Kevin Coakley said nearly one million electric vehicles have the CelLink harnesses.

The company is working on EVs with several carmakers and considering building another factory in Europe, he said.

Coakley said his company could ship redesigned harnesses in two weeks. It used to take up to 26 weeks to change a traditional harness.

Dan Ratliff is an investor⁹ at Fontinalis Partners, an investment company based in Detroit, Michigan. He said carmakers want to make vehicles more quickly. This new harness would make that possible.

For many years, the industry has not needed to move fast to rethink a part like the wire harness, but Tesla has changed that, Ratliff added.

"On the EV side, it's just go, go, go."

Words in This Story

awful(ly) –adv. very, extremely

automate⁶ – v. to run or operate (something, such as a factory or system) by using machines, computers, and the like, instead of people to do the work

flex – n. an electric cable containing two or more wires that is connected to an electrical appliance.

install –v. to put a part into place when building or putting a device such as a machine together

1 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

2 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

3 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 automate   

v.自动化；使自动化

参考例句：

• Many banks have begun to automate.许多银行已开始采用自动化技术。
• To automate the control process of the lathes has become very easy today.使机床的控制过程自动化现已变得很容易了。

7 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

8 flex   

n.皮线，花线；vt.弯曲或伸展

参考例句：

• We wound off a couple of yards of wire for a new lamp flex.我们解开几码电线作为新的电灯花线。
• He gave his biceps a flex to impress the ladies.他收缩他的肱二头肌以吸引那些女士们的目光。

9 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。