Modern vehicles contain up to 130 adhesive applications
At an automotive exposition in Yokohama and Nagoya this June, tesa — a German-Japanese adhesive manufacturer with nearly 130 years of history — presented bonding solutions designed for the invisible but consequential work of electric vehicle assembly. As the automotive industry accelerates its shift toward electrification, the integrity of a battery pack depends not on the cells alone but on the materials that seal, insulate, and hold them together across years of heat, vibration, and moisture. Tesa's presence at the exposition was a quiet argument that the future of mobility is, in part, a story about adhesives.
- EV battery packs demand adhesive performance that plastic plugs and legacy sealing methods were never designed to deliver — failure means water ingress, electrical degradation, or worse.
- tesa arrived at the exposition with three targeted solutions: dielectric cell-wrapping tapes, a cure-free battery pack seal, and robot-applied hole-covering patches that cut weight by 80 percent versus traditional plastic plugs.
- A live joint demonstration with Nihon Plasmatreat showed how plasma surface treatment can unlock adhesion on low-energy substrates without chemical pretreatment, expanding the range of surfaces manufacturers can confidently bond.
- Automation-readiness is the throughline — each product is engineered to slot into robotic assembly lines, improving repeatability, reducing ergonomic strain, and keeping production moving without sacrificing long-term reliability.
- With 130 separate adhesive applications in a modern vehicle and EV battery integrity on the line, tesa is positioning bonding technology not as a commodity but as critical manufacturing infrastructure.
In Yokohama and Nagoya this June, tesa brought three automation-ready adhesive solutions to the Automotive Engineering Exposition, making a case that the materials holding electric vehicles together are as consequential as the components they bond. The German-Japanese manufacturer — nearly 130 years old, operating in 100 countries, with 1.7 billion euros in 2025 sales — has long supplied the automotive industry, where modern vehicles can contain up to 130 separate adhesive applications. For electric vehicles, the margin for error is narrower: a battery pack must stay sealed, structurally sound, and electrically safe across years of thermal cycling and vibration.
Andreas Gunnestrand, tesa's President and Regional Manager for Asia-Pacific, framed the company's approach as partnership — helping manufacturers integrate new solutions without disrupting existing production lines. The first product on display addressed cell wrapping, with dielectric and structural tapes engineered for both prismatic and cylindrical battery cells, offering electrical discharge prevention, high-voltage durability, and reworkability during assembly. The second, tesa ACXplus Box Seal, creates a watertight battery pack seal with no curing time required, enabling direct integration into robotic lines. The third, tesa ProSeal, replaces traditional plastic hole plugs with robot-applied adhesive patches — 80 percent lighter, corrosion-resistant, and capable of improving line availability while reducing worker ergonomic strain.
Tesa also staged a joint demonstration with Nihon Plasmatreat, illustrating how atmospheric pressure plasma treatment can increase surface energy on challenging substrates without chemical pretreatment. Using tesa's widely adopted PE foam tape, the live showcase compared treated and untreated surfaces to show the practical gains of surface activation — not as a requirement for every application, but as a complementary tool when manufacturers encounter difficult bonding conditions.
What the exposition revealed was a company positioning adhesive technology as infrastructure: unglamorous, invisible to the driver, but essential to the manufacturer staking its reputation on a battery pack that must perform for a decade or more.
In Yokohama and Nagoya this June, tesa set up shop at the Automotive Engineering Exposition with a straightforward pitch: as carmakers race to electrify their fleets, the adhesives holding those vehicles together matter more than ever. The German-Japanese adhesive manufacturer brought three automation-ready solutions designed to solve specific problems in EV battery assembly and body-shop production—the kind of unglamorous but essential work that determines whether a battery pack stays sealed for a decade or fails in year two.
Tesa has been making adhesive tape for nearly 130 years. The company now operates in 100 countries, runs plants across Germany, Italy, China, the United States, and Vietnam, and generated 1.7 billion euros in sales in 2025. Three-quarters of that revenue comes from industrial applications. In modern vehicles, the company notes, there can be up to 130 separate adhesive applications—a measure of how thoroughly bonding technology has woven itself into automotive manufacturing. For electric vehicles, the stakes are higher. A battery pack is not just a component; it is the heart of the machine. If the seal fails, water gets in. If the cells shift under vibration, electrical performance degrades. If the dielectric properties of the adhesive break down under high voltage, the whole system is at risk.
Andreas Gunnestrand, tesa's President and Regional Manager for Asia-Pacific, framed the company's approach as a partnership with manufacturers navigating the transition to electric mobility. The goal, he said, was to deliver adhesive solutions that could integrate seamlessly into existing production lines while maintaining what manufacturers care about most: process stability and efficiency. Tesa brought three specific products to demonstrate this. The first addresses cell wrapping—the dielectric and structural adhesive tapes engineered for both prismatic and cylindrical battery cells. These tapes prevent electrical discharge, enhance durability under high voltage, and support thermal and fire management. They offer controlled adhesion and reworkability, meaning assembly workers can make adjustments without compromising long-term reliability. The second product, tesa ACXplus Box Seal, creates a watertight seal between battery pack and lid. It requires no curing time, which means it integrates directly into robotic assembly processes, delivering consistent, bead-free sealing without slowing the line.
The third product, tesa ProSeal, addresses a different problem entirely: the thousands of holes drilled into vehicle bodies during manufacturing. Traditionally, manufacturers have plugged these holes with plastic inserts. ProSeal replaces that process with adhesive patches applied by robot. The weight savings alone—80 percent lighter than plastic plugs—matter in an industry obsessed with range and efficiency. The patches are durable, corrosion-resistant, and work for interior, exterior, and battery-area applications. The real advantage, though, is what it does to the production line itself. Automated hole covering boosts line availability, improves repeatability, reduces ergonomic strain on workers, and lowers overall costs.
Tesa also staged a joint demonstration with Nihon Plasmatreat, a subsidiary of the German company Plasmatreat GmbH, which has spent more than 30 years developing atmospheric pressure plasma technology. The live showcase illustrated how plasma surface treatment can modify the characteristics of automotive substrates—increasing surface energy and improving wettability without chemical pretreatment. Using tesa's PE foam tape, a double-sided adhesive already widely adopted in automotive work, the demonstration compared treated and untreated surfaces to show the practical effects of surface activation. The point was not that plasma treatment was necessary for every application; tesa's adhesives already deliver robust performance across a wide range of substrates. Rather, the partnership showed that when manufacturers face challenging or low-energy surfaces, plasma treatment offers an effective process solution that complements existing manufacturing workflows.
What emerges from tesa's exhibition is a picture of adhesive technology as infrastructure—invisible to the driver, but essential to the manufacturer. As electric vehicles become the standard rather than the exception, the demands on these bonding solutions only intensify. A battery pack must survive not just assembly but years of thermal cycling, vibration, and exposure to moisture. The adhesives holding it together must be engineered for precision, integrated into automated lines, and reliable enough that a manufacturer can stake its reputation on them. Tesa's message was that it has spent 130 years learning how to do exactly that.
Citas Notables
As the automotive industry continues to transition toward electric mobility, tesa supports manufacturers with precision engineered adhesive solutions for EV battery production, with a clear focus on process stability and production efficiency.— Andreas Gunnestrand, President and Regional Manager, tesa tape Asia-Pacific
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does an adhesive tape company matter at an automotive expo in 2026? Isn't that solved technology?
It's solved for traditional cars. But electric vehicles put adhesives under stresses that gasoline engines never did. You're bonding battery cells that operate at high voltage, sealing packs that must stay watertight for a decade, and doing it all in robotic assembly lines that can't tolerate variation. The engineering is different.
So what's the actual problem tesa is solving?
Three problems, really. First, how to wrap battery cells with tape that won't conduct electricity or fail under thermal stress. Second, how to seal a battery pack without curing time—robots can't wait. Third, how to automate the thousands of small holes drilled into a vehicle body without slowing production or adding weight.
The plasma treatment demonstration—why show that alongside adhesive tape?
Because sometimes the surface you're trying to bond to doesn't cooperate. Plastic, certain metals, composites—they have low surface energy. Plasma treatment activates the surface so the adhesive can grip it properly. Tesa is saying: we have the tape, and we know the tools that make it work better.
Is this about cost, or performance, or both?
Both, but in different ways. ProSeal, the hole-covering product, saves 80 percent weight compared to plastic plugs and automates a manual process. That's cost and efficiency. The battery sealing tape requires no curing, so it fits into existing robotic lines without slowing them down. That's performance—you can't compromise on battery reliability.
Who actually buys this stuff?
Original equipment manufacturers—the big carmakers—and their tier-one suppliers. Anyone building electric vehicles at scale. Tesa operates in 100 countries and generated 1.7 billion euros in revenue last year, so they're already embedded in the supply chain. This expo is about showing the next generation of solutions as the industry transitions to electric.
What happens if the adhesive fails?
In a battery pack, it's catastrophic. Water ingress causes corrosion. Cells shift under vibration and lose electrical contact. The dielectric properties break down under high voltage. You don't get a slow degradation—you get a failure that could strand a driver or, worse, create a safety hazard. That's why the engineering has to be precise.