ABB report shows how a 0.2% motor efficiency gain could unlock billions for industry

Motors rated above 375kW account for an estimated 10.4% of global electricity demand today, a figure projected to double by 2040. Examining a decade of data from ABB’s Västerås manufacturing facility in Sweden, of more than 1000 large synchronous motors and generators delivered worldwide between 2015 and 2025, the report finds that a significant efficiency gap persists between what is routinely specified and what is achievable through ABB’s Top Industrial Efficiency (TIE) approach, which focuses on specifying the highest efficiency motor or generator using proven commercially available technology. Applied across the global installed base of similar equipment, this 0.2% gap is costing operators between $9.5 to $12 billion in unnecessary electricity costs and generating 60 to 75 million tons of avoidable CO₂ over a 25-year asset life - despite a typical payback period of a few months to up to three years. 

Industrial energy efficiency is gaining importance as the global energy transition accelerates, with rising demand from AI and data centers adding pressure to electricity systems. Maximising the use of each unit of electricity, while strengthening security of supply, is central to addressing these challenges.

"Industry has spent decades optimising what happens inside a plant. Yet large motors and generators have rarely been part of that conversation, even though they run continuously for 25 years and sometimes even more, converting more energy to motion than almost anything else on site,” said David Bjerhag, global business line manager, high speed synchronous, ABB. “The gap between a standard machine and a TIE-optimised one is not technological. It is a specification gap. The companies closing it fastest are the ones where the engineer who selects the motor and the CFO or CSO responsible for energy performance are aligned around a single metric: total cost of ownership.” 

The TIE initiative is ABB’s contractual commitment to deliver large synchronous motors and generators with the highest possible energy efficiency, without compromising reliability or specification compliance. Open to OEMs, EPCs and end users, it enables solutions optimised for lifecycle performance rather than upfront cost.

The report highlights adoption trends by country and industry segment, showing how uptake varies across regions and applications. On average, the TIE option delivers 98.7 to 98.8% efficiency compared with a standard 98.5% – a 0.2 percentagepoint improvement that serves as a baseline, with gains of 1 to 1.5 percentage points achievable in some applications, particularly induction-based systems.

Applying that TIE 0.2 percentage point efficiency improvement across the global installed base of industrial motors and generators would save 4 to 6 TWh per year, enough electricity to power roughly 750,000 to 1 million OECD households. Over a 25-year motor lifetime, that rises to 100 to 150 TWh of electricity saved, equivalent to powering the United Kingdom for five months, with associated CO₂ reductions of 60 to 75 million tonnes, equivalent to taking 13 to 16 million cars off the road permanently.

To turn potential into impact, the report sets out a clear set of actions to accelerate adoption. It calls on industry to move beyond upfront cost and embed energy efficiency into procurement decisions, including specifying minimum performance levels and requesting optimised designs. It also highlights the importance of using total cost of ownership as the primary decision metric, aligning incentives across engineering, procurement and energy management teams. Stronger collaboration across manufacturers, OEMs and EPCs will be critical to ensure high-efficiency systems are specified early and delivered at scale.

The full report is available here