Abstract: Cost is the main obstacle for use of completely distributed automotive body electrical systems. A
complete-distributed electrical/electronic system architecture was proposed and a related additional cost model
was established, which consists of a harness cost model and an electronic control unit cost model. The electrical
system was applied to an urban shuttle bus to analyze the cost of harness material, labor, and control unit. The
proposed model proves to be effective. The results predicted using the model show that, for the completely
distributed electrical system in future, on one hand, the cost of copper and labor will increase, and on the other
hand, the cost of electronic devices will decrease with time. Therefore, the additional cost will not only reach its
balance, but will be lower than that of the existing systems.

Key words: automotive body electrical, electronic system, complete-distributed design, cost model, cost analysis