In Tesla’s gigafactories and workshops, they are quietly leading a revolution in electric car manufacturing. So, what inspired Elon Musk’s design for Tesla’s Cybertruck?
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has always been a proponent of “unboxed” production, which involves creating large sub-units of a car and then assembling them together. Tesla has been “gigacasting,” using ultra-high pressure presses to mold big parts of their cars, rather than using hundreds of smaller ones, long before other car manufacturers even considered it. But now, Tesla is taking it a step further by experimenting with even larger presses to cast the entire body of a car.
Tesla’s innovative new technique combines 3D printing and industrial sand. According to Reuters, the process is still confidential, but it involves using 3D-printed solid sand cores in a mold. After casting, the sand is removed, leaving a hollow subframe for structural integrity. This method gives Tesla more flexibility in terms of cost, design, and time compared to traditional metal molds.
If this technique is scaled up, Tesla could get closer to Elon Musk’s goal of reducing production costs by half. Apple’s unibody design for its laptops, where the entire structure is machined from a single aluminum slab, helped the company save on assembly costs on a smaller scale.
By the numbers: Tesla’s car-molding process
- 6,000 to 9,000 tons: The clamping pressure needed to mold the front and rear structures of a Tesla Model Y in the “gigacasting” process
- 10 hours: The time it takes for Tesla to produce a Model Y using their gigapresses, which is about three times faster than their competitors
- 16,000 tons or more: The clamping pressure required for Tesla’s new method, which would need more space. As a result, Tesla is doubling the size of its Berlin factory and exploring plant setups in India
- 400: The number of parts Tesla’s “gigacasting” technique can replace in conventional car-building methods, according to Reuters’ sources
- $25,000: The target price for the small, affordable electric vehicle (EV) that Tesla plans to launch by 2025
- $4 million: The cost of creating a large-scale mold from scratch
- $1.5 million: The cost of modifying a mold with changes after the initial testing
- 18-24 months: The expected time for Tesla to develop a car from scratch using the new technique, compared to the 3-4 years taken by most competitors
Company of interest: IDRA Group
While it is not clear who Tesla is collaborating with for their new presses, they have previously worked with the IDRA Group for their existing processes. IDRA, a major machine manufacturer with seven decades of experience, has been making gigapresses since 2015. It appears that IDRA was the only one among the six major manufacturers globally that accepted Musk’s request to create the massive casting machine for Tesla’s cars.
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