Tesla’s one-piece die-casting technology has made a major breakthrough. And this technology has already begun to be applied. The Model Y produced by the Shanghai Super Factory uses integrated die-casting technology 2.0. By integrating multiple parts into one part, production efficiency has increased significantly. Compared with traditional production methods, the weight of the body system can be reduced by more than 10%.

The most important thing is cost reduction, thanks to the optimization of structural design,After the Model Y rear floor assembly system adopts an integrated die-casting method, the cost is reduced by 40%.

Musk, the "cost reduction maniac", finally got a handy weapon. This new technology can almost change the existing electric vehicle production model, and also allows Musk to accelerate the goal of halving production costs.

From now on, Tesla's biggest product will no longer be cars, but factories.

Other car companies are also catching up quickly, including a large number of traditional car companies such as Toyota, General Motors, and Ford, which have begun to develop integrated die-casting technology. A new round of price war will be inevitable.

01. Subvert tradition, the shortest R&D cycle is 18 months

A traditional automobile chassis is generally made up of hundreds or thousands of parts welded together to form a front and rear structure plus a three-section structure in the middle.

Tesla's one-piece die-casting technology 2.0 is to die-cast almost all complex underbody components of electric vehicles into a whole.

The benefits of this are obvious, such as the body will be more stable and solid, and the NVH performance will also be improved. With one die-casting machine, two to three hundred robots in the production line can be collectively "offline". This alone can save a lot of costs.

Source: Tesla

The Model Y currently produced at Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory has already applied these technologies for rapid molding. The biggest feature is that it saves money, time and effort.

The weight can be saved by more than 10%, related costs are reduced by 40%, and production efficiency is also greatly improved. On September 6, the 2 millionth vehicle rolled off the assembly line at Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory. According to relevant sources at Tesla, it took the Shanghai factory 33 months to complete the "1 million vehicle" goal for the first time.From 1 million to 2 million, it only took 13 months.

Source: Tesla

Calculated, the average production time of each vehicle is 2.5 times faster!

The feedback to the consumer side is that cars are sold cheaper.

In fact, not all Shanghai factories are currently applying this technology. At the Investor Day event in March this year, Musk introduced Tesla’s plan to transform the factory-“Unboxed Assembly Process” (Unboxed Assembly Process). This is also key to Tesla's plan to produce tens of millions of cheaper electric cars over the next decade and still remain profitable.

This brand-new production model subverts the traditional four major processes of car manufacturing: stamping, welding, painting, and final assembly. The parts of the entire vehicle are divided into 6 large modules, and each module is produced separately.

After the production of these modules is completed, Tesla assembles the entire body through a stamping process. The whole process is like assembling a box. Of course, Tesla does not treat the vehicle as a box, but unfolds the box for assembly, so it is called the "unboxing process."

Tesla said that through this new process, factory manufacturing personnel will be reduced by 40%, and the space and time required for manufacturing will also be reduced by 30%. At the same time, the assembly cost can be reduced to half of the current Model 3 or Model Y.

Source: Tesla

Reuters reported not long ago that the die-casting of vehicle bottom parts is a key step in the "unpacking process".

Relying on this technology, Tesla’s research and development cycle for new cars will also be greatly shortened, sources said.Tesla can develop a car from scratch in 18-24 months, and before this, the research and development of a new car by car companies took seven or eight years at most and three or four years at least.

For this technology, many big names have begun to support it. For example, Jean-Philippe Wickler, a researcher at the Free University of Dortmund in Germany, commented that Tesla's new process has revolutionized modular production, removed the standard process, and created a new working model.

Martin French, director of German management consulting firm Berylls, also said that the production system developed and applied by Toyota for decades has been knocked down, and Tesla's Unbox process will change the way cars are produced.

02. The cost is too high and users will have limited benefits in the short term.

The benefits of integrated die-casting technology are self-evident. It can not only improve production efficiency but also reduce costs, but it is not completely without shortcomings.

The biggest problem is that it's too expensive.

Its research and development costs are quite high. Some casting experts say that once a large metal trial mold is manufactured, a processing adjustment during the design process may cost US$100,000, and remaking the mold may cost US$1.5 million. Unless the mold can meet the design requirements at one time, subsequent adjustments, changes, or even scrapping will be a huge expense.

in other words,Models die-cast with an all-in-one machine must be popular models.

Source: Tesla

Generally, the entire design process of a large metal mold costs about US$4 million, and this process often needs to be repeated five or six times or more to achieve perfection.

This is also an important reason why although integrated die-casting technology is good, it has not been widely used among car companies.

But Tesla thought of how to solve this problem from the beginning—using 3D printing.

Reuters reported that in order to cast the bottom of the car body as a whole, Musk turned to a company that used 3D printers to make test molds with industrial sand.

Simply put, a 3D printer is used to deposit a liquid adhesive on a thin layer of sand, and then layer by layer to create a mold that can be used to cast molten alloy.

Sources said that the cost of the design verification process of sand casting is the lowest among all current options, only 3% of that of a metal prototype.

At the same time, another benefit of 3D printing is that it can save development time. According to Reuters, using equipment from companies such as 3D printing, a new prototype can be reprinted within a few hours, so Tesla can repeatedly adjust it according to design needs.

In terms of time, the design verification cycle using sand casting only takes 2 to 3 months, while the metal mold prototype takes half a year to a year.

After the initial cost and time issues are resolved, it’s time to consider the actual operation.

If Tesla wants to die-cast large body parts, it needs a larger die-casting machine. Some foundry industry engineers said that the larger the die-casting area, the higher the clamping force requirements. To achieve integrated die-casting of the entire body bottom, the clamping force needs to reach the level of 16,000 tons, and the machine is huge, which also means that larger factory space is needed and more money is spent.

Tesla is currently using the integrated die-casting machine for Model Y with a clamping force of 6,000 tons.Its die-casting machine with the largest clamping force is a 9,000-ton die-casting machine specially built for the production of Cybertruck.

Source: IDRA

Of course, the above are problems faced by the production side. In terms of after-sales, it is very obvious-the maintenance cost is also very high.

Especially after a collision or scratch, repairs require the replacement of entire parts, ultimately leading to increased repair costs and insurance rates. Therefore, it is more like a "one-shot deal" component. Once it is scratched, there will be a risk of "exchanging the car".

03. Not a panacea

Even if there are major problems with cost and after-sales, for car companies, once large-scale production occurs, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

The basic principle of integrated die-casting technology is to heat and melt metal into a liquid state, then squeeze and pour it into a mold, and then form it after cooling to obtain parts that meet the requirements. Prior to this, the Ford F150 was manufactured using integrated die-casting technology.

But it was Tesla that really brought this technology to the market and made it popular. Moreover, Tesla has also made a lot of innovations in it, which is also its contribution to the automotive industry and provides an evolutionary direction for new energy vehicle manufacturing.

Not long ago, even the stubborn Toyota unveiled the body-integrated die-casting technology it developed. It only takes three minutes to complete the molding and manufacturing of one-third of the body.

Toyota said the technology is designed to further reduce production processes and costs, thereby increasing its profits in the field of electric vehicles and catching up with Tesla.Pure electric vehicles expected to be launched on the market in 2026 will use this technology.

Toyota said that after applying the one-piece die-casting process, the rear part of the body requires only a single component and a simple process, whereas previously it required approximately 86 different components and was assembled through 33 independent processes. This series of complex processes took several hours to complete.

Source: Toyota

Compared with the traditional manufacturing process, Toyota's one-piece die-casting process has been significantly improved, but it still lags behind Tesla.

In addition, as Tesla brings integrated die-casting technology to the country, new forces such as Lideal and Xpeng, as well as traditional brands such as Great Wall and Mercedes-Benz, have also begun to follow up on this technology. According to calculations by Bank of China Securities, the integrated die-casting market will reach 22 billion yuan by 2025, with a four-year compound growth rate of 133%.

It can be said that the advantages and disadvantages of integrated die-casting technology are obvious, and there are pros and cons in utilization. For example, it can not only reduce costs but also improve the safety of vehicles in collision accidents.

But this also increases the maintenance cost in the later period. Previously, Tesla Model Y’s “sky-high maintenance fee” incident,It's because the integrated die-casting parts are damaged.

It is foreseeable that in order to reduce costs, it will be an irreversible trend for car companies to use integrated die-casting technology. But in practical applications, integrated die-casting is not a panacea. After all, only the one that suits you is the best.