Tesla says it cut Model Y production time by 30% after putting its Giga Press die-casting machines to work. The presses weigh 6,000 tons.
The idea is simple to state. Where a Model Y body once needed more than 70 separate parts, a press now casts them as a few large aluminum pieces. One account puts the result at two or three castings; another describes a single megacasting. Either way, the welding and stamping that used to fill hours of the assembly line shrinks sharply. Rear underbodies for the Model Y are cast in under two minutes.
The machines come from IDRA Group, the Italian maker that pioneered the technology. Tesla introduced the Giga Press in 2020. The company has since installed the presses at its Berlin, Texas and Shanghai factories, and it plans to extend the method to the Cybertruck and later models.
What Tesla claims
The figures come mostly from Tesla’s own account, and they are large. The company says it can build the Model Y in 10 hours and no longer needs 600 robots on the line. It also claims a 40 percent drop in the cost of making the vehicle. In a market where battery packs are expensive, that kind of saving matters.
Fewer seams and reinforcements also mean less weight, which helps efficiency. Less labor and less wasted material lower the cost of each unit.
Fixing the flaws
Casting parts this big leaves little room for error, since one defect can ruin a piece that replaces dozens. Electromagnetic pumps, widely used with IDRA’s presses, are meant to address that. They replace the old ladling method and adjust the flow of molten aluminum every 10 milliseconds, which cuts down on bubbles and porosity.
Rivals follow
Other carmakers are watching. General Motors, Toyota, Hyundai and Polestar have shown interest in the technology, and Volkswagen and Toyota are reported to be racing to adopt similar megacasting. IDRA general manager Riccardo Ferrario estimates that 80 percent of automakers will use Giga Presses for their EVs by 2035.
There is a cost on the labor side. Quantumrun’s analysis flags the labor side: fewer parts and fewer robots could mean fewer jobs on traditional assembly lines, and smaller parts suppliers could lose business as casting replaces their components.
Sources
- Giga Press: Gigacasting is streamlining auto production
- Tesla’s Giga Press cuts Model Y production time by 30%
