Pioneering paint shop for electric vehicles

A modern paint shop is being built in Saudi Arabia for painting electric vehicles. The modular system not only saves energy and CO2 emissions, but also enables complete automation thanks to new innovations.

Innovative and sustainable: Dürr is building a paint shop for CEER, the first Saudi automotive company and the first electric vehicle brand founded in Saudi Arabia, that is forward-looking in almost every respect. The order was placed in 2023 and the project is currently in the installation phase. AGVs transport the car bodies flexibly and precisely as required between the stations of the modular system. The latest application technology paints the electric vehicles inside and out in the same box. There will also be a box for fully automatic two-color application without overspray. High-tech and sustainability go hand in hand. Dürr supplies the latest generation of dryers, which, combined with electric exhaust air purification systems, save energy and reduce CO2 emissions. The new factory will be a world leader in automotive painting technology.

For the first time, Dürr is fully implementing its Paint Shop of the Future concept at CEER. The modular design with the latest innovations enables complete automation. The paint shop uses digital solutions from Dürr's DXQ product family, which reduce downtimes and maximize the effectiveness of the systems. The new plant at the CEER production site in King Abdullah Economic City will start production in the fourth quarter of 2026.

CEER relies on Dürr's new EcoInCure generation of dryers. The body is heated from the inside, which means that more solid body components can be reached more directly. This is particularly advantageous for electric vehicles, as they require, among other things, heavily reinforced sills to protect the batteries in the event of a side impact. At the same time, overheating of the paint on thin-walled body parts can be avoided. This type of drying is more environmentally friendly than conventional systems, as the process time required to heat the bodywork is reduced by up to 30%. The exhaust air from the dryer is cleaned with an Oxi.X RV from Dürr CTS using the principle of regenerative thermal oxidation (RTO). The oxidation reactions for cleaning the process exhaust air take place entirely within the heat exchanger material. As the system is electrically operated, there is no open flame and therefore no undesirable by-products from combustion.

Another outstanding feature is Dürr's award-winning overspray-free EcoPaintJet Pro painting system. This enables CEER to offer its customers two-tone painted cars. The EcoPaintJet Pro technology combines customer-specific product design with automated production. Car bodies can be painted with two contrasting colors in the same process, reducing paint consumption and avoiding plastic waste, as the EcoPaintJet Pro does not require masking with film and tape. The system can also be adapted to paint complex patterns such as lettering and logos. "Innovation is a key driver for performance and sustainability in vehicle production. The Paint Shop of the Future enables great flexibility, energy and paint efficiency as well as exciting and high-quality vehicle painting," says Dr. Lars Friedrich, CEO of Dürr Systems AG. "We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with CEER to create one of the most modern automotive production facilities in the world."

With the Paint Shop of the Future, CEER can quickly integrate new models and flexibly increase production capacity. The key to this is a modular concept in which the previous paint lines with their rigid cycle times are replaced by modular EcoProBooth boxes. In the box concept, the robots paint the car bodies inside and out in just one box. The new universal atomizers from the EcoBell4 Pro series meet the highest standards of painting quality. Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) transport the car bodies between the workstations and the high-bay warehouse. Dürr's EcoProFleet AGVs are constantly on the move and transport the car bodies flexibly and as required. DXQlogistics.control is Dürr's customized software solution for the control logic of the AGVs. It digitally controls the material flow according to the utilization, equipment and availability of the workstations.

The digital solutions from Dürr's DXQ product family turn CEER's paint shop into an intelligent factory. The modular overall solution DXQcontrol is an innovative Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) system with a microservices architecture that offers a high degree of flexibility and consistency. The MOM comprises over 50 functionalities for planning, executing, controlling, monitoring, optimizing and predictive analysis of production. DXQanalyze provides system-specific and usage-dependent information. This can be used, for example, to forecast the remaining service life of system components or to establish correlations between quality results and the machining process. The transparency of the operating behavior of machines and systems thus reaches a new level.

"Our goal at CEER is to build a world-class production facility that sets new standards in terms of efficiency and sustainability," says James DeLuca, CEO of CEER. "With the paint shop of the future, CEER will be at the forefront of innovation in automotive manufacturing and will be able to offer our customers in Saudi Arabia and across the region an unprecedented level of customization. The result will be a greener manufacturing process and the ability to offer customization in vehicle colors, paint and complex details that will delight the public." In fall 2024, Dürr founded the subsidiary Dürr Systems Arabia LLC in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to further strengthen its customer relationships in the region. (OM-3/26)