Within the race to make EVs cheaper and extra worthwhile, corporations are pulling nearly each lever they will. However whereas enhancing battery know-how typically hogs the highlight, automakers are investing closely into altering how the remainder of the automobile is made.
One such technique is megacasting, or gigacasting, as Tesla calls it.
Gigacasting is a type of die-casting — pouring supplies like molten aluminum into massive molds to kind elements. Die-casting has been round for awhile, however the American automaker headed by Elon Musk has been credited with pushing the envelope, mentioned Shea Burns, a accomplice at analysis agency AlixPartners who research auto manufacturing.
Tesla mentioned the method works to cut back weight and dramatically enhance manufacturing effectivity.
For instance, the entrance and rear parts of the early Mannequin 3 chassis every contained greater than 70 elements, according to Tesla. The identical two parts on the very comparable Mannequin Y at the moment are only one half every.
“A solid rear physique or entrance physique is lighter, cheaper, higher noise vibration or harshness, a lot simpler to fabricate,” Musk advised analysts after Tesla launched its second-quarter earnings of 2023. “I believe it is mainly going to be how all vehicles are made sooner or later.”
Different automakers have introduced their very own investments: Toyota, Ford Motor, General Motors, Hyundai, Nissan, and Volvo.
“I see tons of alternatives going ahead,” mentioned Erik Severinson, chief product and technique officer for Volvo. Lowering weight finally means extra vary for the client, and substituting one massive megacast for dozens of stamped elements reduces labor and boosts manufacturing, he mentioned.
“If you wish to make an environment friendly electrified automobile, it’s essential have extra aluminum, it’s essential have much less elements, it’s essential have much less complexity,” he mentioned.
However those that research the sector say that whereas megacasting is thrilling, it faces technical challenges. Die-casting all the time bears the chance that the fabric will not absolutely or correctly fill the mildew, permitting “voids” or air bubbles to happen, critics say. These voids may pose structural dangers.
There may be additionally the next scrap price. About 15 items out of each 1,000 must be thrown out, Burns mentioned. For stamped metal, the speed is 10 of a 1,000.
There are additionally considerations that any injury to massive megacasts might be more durable or dearer to restore or substitute, merely due to their sheer dimension.
Even in low-speed crashes that happen at about 10 miles per hour, “you’ve gotten a deformation of those huge elements,” mentioned Wolfram Volk, a professor of steel forming and casting on the Technical College of Munich in Germany. “And presently the automobile is unattainable to restore.”
Volk added he has spoken with German premium carmakers reminiscent of BMW and Volkswagen, who to date have steered away from the approach.
For its half, Tesla has disputed that castings are more durable to restore. The corporate’s vice chairman of engineering, Lars Moravy, mentioned on that second-quarter 2023 earnings name that changing a particular solid half on a Tesla automobile, a rear rail, was 10 occasions cheaper and 3 times sooner than a comparable stamped half.
Severinson views restore as a solvable problem: “There’s a answer to repairing additionally a casted rear flooring,” he mentioned. “It is not a straightforward operation, however it’s positively doable.”
Tesla, in the meantime, has reportedly backed away from an bold plan to create all the underbody of its autos in a single single piece. Burns and Volk say that may be an indication that the corporate is hitting some technical limits. At present, the underbodies of the Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y are solid in three items.
“You must have a balanced view on this know-how,” Volk mentioned. “It is actually an enormous step ahead in casting.” However, he added, nobody is aware of if the guarantees might be fulfilled or if obstacles will stymie improvement. “It is a open recreation.”
