In 2023, the market size of automotive wiring harnesses in China exceeded 107.03 billion yuan, achieving a significant growth of 31.39%. Looking ahead to 2025, the overall market size is expected to exceed the 120 billion yuan mark. The core driving force behind this growth comes from the explosive increase in demand for wiring harnesses in new energy vehicles, whose proportion has jumped from 4.8% in 2019 to 62.5% in 2025, with a scale of approximately 75 billion yuan, becoming the main engine of industry growth. This structural change mainly stems from the newly added high-voltage wiring harness system in new energy vehicles, which has pushed the value per vehicle from 3,000 yuan in traditional fuel vehicles to over 5,000 yuan, an increase of more than 60%.

High-voltage wiring harnesses lead the wave of technological innovation

With the accelerated popularization of 800V platforms, the performance requirements for high-voltage wiring harnesses have significantly increased, and the withstand voltage level has jumped from 600V to over 1500V. It is predicted that the global high-voltage wiring harness market size will reach 18 billion US dollars in 2025, with the Chinese market accounting for as high as 45%. This technological upgrade brings new challenges: silicone insulation materials, a three-layer electromagnetic shielding structure (copper braiding + aluminum foil + absorbing layer), and liquid cooling heat dissipation design have become the key to industry breakthroughs. The 1000V liquid-cooled wiring harness jointly developed by CATL and Aptiv is a typical representative of this trend.

Technological transformation focuses on three major directions

1. The coordinated development of high-voltage and high-frequency transmission

• In terms of energy transmission, high-voltage wiring harnesses need to support currents above 400A, the cross-sectional area of wires has increased from 35mm² to 70mm², and the coating material of connectors has been upgraded from gold plating to silver-nickel alloy
• In the field of signal transmission, L3+ autonomous driving promotes the application of in-vehicle Ethernet harnesses, with a significant advantage of 10Gbps bandwidth. After the Ideal L9 adopts the Ethernet backbone network, the length of the wiring harness is reduced by 40% and the transmission delay is decreased by 60%

2. Breakthroughs have been achieved in lightweight technology

• Material innovation: The electrical conductivity of aluminum wires reaches 97% of that of copper, while their weight is reduced by 30% and the cost is cut by 40%
• Structural optimization: The application of carbon fiber composite sheath and thin-walled insulation technology has reduced the weight of the wiring harness by 60%, helping to increase the vehicle's range by 5% to 10%

3. The level of intelligent manufacturing has been significantly enhanced

• AI quality inspection and machine vision technology have reduced the defect rate from 0.5% to 0.1%. It is expected that the domestic factory automation rate will reach 75% by 2025, and labor costs will be reduced by 40%

Domestic substitution is accelerating, and domestic enterprises are rising strongly

1. Break the monopoly pattern of foreign capital

• Although the market share of the top three enterprises in the global market is as high as 71%, the market share of domestic Chinese enterprises has increased from 3% to 28%
• Local enterprises have grown rapidly thanks to their significant advantages of 40% lower costs and 30% shorter response cycles

2. New force car manufacturers boost development

• New energy vehicle manufacturers such as NIO and Li Auto are more inclined to choose domestic suppliers, reducing the custom development cycle from 12 months to 8 months
• The regional capacity layout has achieved remarkable results, with the industrial clusters in the Yangtze River Delta covering 50% of the market demand

The coordinated development of the industrial chain and the dual empowerment of policies and ecosystems

1. Policy dividends continue to be released

• The "Development Plan for the New Energy Vehicle Industry (2021-2035)" promotes the localization process of key components, The carbon credit policy encourages the development of lightweight technology for wiring harnesses, and each vehicle can receive a 0.2 credit bonus
• The EU's new battery regulation requires that the recycling rate of wire harnesses exceed 95%, promoting the application of bio-based materials

2. The resilience of the supply chain has been continuously enhanced

• In the face of the gross profit margin pressure brought about by the fluctuation of copper prices, enterprises have effectively responded through strategies such as "aluminum instead of copper" and futures hedging
• The closed-loop recycling system has been gradually improved. The Hubei base of CATL processes 120,000 tons of batteries annually, and the recycling rate of copper and aluminum exceeds 95%

Future trends: Global layout and competition for technological commanding heights

1. Technological integration continues to deepen

• The high-voltage fast charging ecosystem is accelerating its formation. The 4C fast charging technology enables a range of 400 kilometers in 10 minutes, and liquid-cooled wiring harnesses have become standard equipment
• The hybrid architecture of wireless and wired is developing rapidly. BMW iX applies UWB technology to reduce 12 door wiring harnesses

2. The globalization strategy has been comprehensively advanced

• Globalization of production capacity layout: The Mexican base serves the North American market, while the factory in Eastern Europe deals with the EU carbon tariff
• Technology output innovation model: CATL has licensed its CTP technology to Ford, opening up a new overseas expansion path for Chinese enterprises

Looking forward to the future

The Chinese automotive wiring harness industry is currently at a critical juncture in the competition for "technological sovereignty". In the short term, the market dividends of new energy and the trend of domestic substitution will drive the market share of domestic enterprises to exceed 15% by 2025. In the long term, the deep integration of high-pressure platforms, material innovation and intelligent manufacturing will reshape the global supply chain landscape. The competition in the future will not only be a contest of products, but also a competition of ecological synergy capabilities. Only enterprises that master core technical standards, establish a green circular system and achieve global agile response can become the rule-makers in this market worth hundreds of billions of yuan.