Automotive

Automotive electronics imposes the harshest environmental conditions among the sectors ESPO serves. A vehicle board faces temperatures above 100°C in the engine bay, continuous vibration, humidity and salt corrosion, voltage transients and electromagnetic interference — all at once.

These conditions determine every step from board design to component selection.

Manufacturing requirements in this sector

Wide temperature range. Automotive-grade components are typically selected to operate between -40°C and +125°C. Using commercial-grade parts means a vehicle that fails in winter or faults in summer.

Vibration resistance. Continuous vibration can cause fatigue cracking in solder joints. Component placement, solder volume and mechanical support where required are planned around this risk.

Corrosion protection. Conformal coating is applied to boards exposed to humidity, road salt and fuel vapour.

Electromagnetic compatibility. Many systems operate simultaneously inside a vehicle. The board must neither be affected by interference nor affect other systems. Layout and grounding design follow this principle.

Traceability. Recall risk is real in automotive. Records are kept of which batch and which components produced each board, so field feedback can be traced to the batch concerned.