TESLA

Brand innovates once again producing the Model Y in one piece

In car production, as in everything else that is manufactured in series, the time needed to build a unit is decisive for its cost and its profit margin. Volkswagen stressed the importance of this point, with its CEO announcing that Tesla needed only 10 hours, against the German rival's 30 hours, to produce an electric vehicle.

To manufacture quickly, the product must be designed to allow it, but there must also be technological solutions to streamline the process. For Tesla, the solution found was the replacement of several dozen small stamped parts (approximately 79), welded together, to form the front area of ​​the chassis, with just one large part, manufactured by a pressure casting process , used for the first time in the automotive industry in large production models, such as the Model 3 and Model Y.

The American manufacturer extended the huge castings to the front and rear parts of the chassis, replacing 211 stamped and welded parts with just two castings. And he made it known that there are more gains on the way, since the central structure that supports the battery pack will also be melted and the entire system still has room to evolve 25% in the production cycle and 10% in the period between cycles.

One of those present at the Gigafactory Berlin presentation was youtuber Alex Avoigt, who had the opportunity to talk with one of the people responsible for the equipment manufactured by the Italians at IDRA, who carry out the pressure castings. Avoigt noticed that there are eight of these pieces of equipment at Tesla's European plant, which, according to him, are capable of producing 1 million pieces each, between the rear underbody (RUB) and the front underbody (FUB).

Model 2 can have a chassis made with just one piece...IDRA's pressure casting equipment, used today by Tesla, can generate pressures between 3000 and 4500 tons, being used in the RUB and FUB, to which the structure for the battery pack will be added. Interestingly, Avoigt added that the VW Group is determined to move forward with the pressure foundry for the new electric platforms of the Trinity project.

Tesla has already ordered a set of equipment from IDRA to generate pressures of 8000 tons, which the brand intends to use at Cybertruck, to produce larger parts. But the most interesting solution is the one that the North American manufacturer reserves for its future Model 2, an unofficial name given to the smaller and cheaper model than the current Model 3 that Tesla has already announced is in preparation.

To optimize the production of the Model 2, according to information gathered by Alex Avoigt, the platform will consist of a single casting, but now in equipment capable of generating 12,000 tons of pressure. If only with RUB and FUB Tesla expects Model Y's to come off the production line at a cadence of one every 45 seconds, this value can drop even further with the entire lower part of the Model 2 manufactured in just one piece. and at once.

Autonews