Within the race to make EVs cheaper and extra worthwhile, corporations are pulling nearly each lever they will. However whereas enhancing battery expertise usually hogs the highlight, automakers are investing closely into altering how the remainder of the automobile is made.

One such methodology is megacasting, or gigacasting, as Tesla calls it.

Gigacasting is a type of die-casting — pouring supplies like molten aluminum into massive molds to type components. 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 associate 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 components, in accordance with Tesla. The identical two parts on the very related Mannequin Y are actually only one half every. 

“A forged rear physique or entrance physique is lighter, cheaper, higher noise vibration or harshness, a lot simpler to fabricate,” Musk informed 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, Basic 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 components reduces labor and boosts manufacturing, he mentioned.

“If you wish to make an environment friendly electrified automobile, it is advisable have extra aluminum, it is advisable have much less components, it is advisable have much less complexity,” he mentioned.

However those that research the sphere say that whereas megacasting is thrilling, it faces technical challenges. Die-casting at all times bears the chance that the fabric will not totally or correctly fill the mould, permitting “voids” or air bubbles to happen, critics say. These voids may pose structural dangers.

There’s additionally a better scrap fee. About 15 items out of each 1,000 need to 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 will probably be harder or dearer to restore or change, merely due to their sheer measurement.

Even in low-speed crashes that happen at about 10 miles per hour, “you might have a deformation of those large components,” mentioned Wolfram Volk, a professor of metallic forming and casting on the Technical College of Munich in Germany. “And at the moment the automobile is not possible to restore.”

Volk added he has spoken with German premium carmakers comparable to BMW and Volkswagen, who to date have steered away from the approach.

For its half, Tesla has disputed that castings are harder to restore. The corporate’s vp of engineering, Lars Moravy, mentioned on that second-quarter 2023 earnings name that changing a particular forged half on a Tesla automobile, a rear rail, was 10 occasions cheaper and thrice sooner than a comparable stamped half.

Severinson views restore as a solvable problem: “There’s a resolution to repairing additionally a casted rear flooring,” he mentioned. “It is not a simple operation, however it’s undoubtedly doable.”

Tesla, in the meantime, has reportedly backed away from an formidable plan to create your entire underbody of its autos in a single single piece. Burns and Volk say that is perhaps an indication that the corporate is hitting some technical limits. At present, the underbodies of the Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y are forged in three items.

“You must have a balanced view on this expertise,” Volk mentioned. “It is actually a giant step ahead in casting.” However, he added, nobody is aware of if the guarantees will probably be fulfilled or if obstacles will stymie improvement. “It is a open recreation.”

Watch the video to study extra.