A few years ago, Tesla was miles ahead of any of its competition, but today, that really isn’t the case. There are EVs that charge faster, have longer ranges, better driver assist systems, nicer interiors, more internal space and even accelerate harder for the same price or cheaper than the equivalent Tesla. Even Tesla’s famous charging network isn’t as big of an advantage as it once was, as it is being opened up to other manufacturers, and third-party superfast EV charging stations have become increasingly common. However, there is still one last area in which Tesla still leads: manufacturing. Their gigacasting technology has enabled them to produce EVs faster and cheaper than anyone else, allowing them to have the most profitable EVs on the market. But all of this is about to change. Here’s why.
The manufacturing technology in question is gigacasting. Tesla didn’t invent it; instead, they were merely the first to adopt it.
The idea is to make the chassis production far more simple and cheaper. Regular car chassis are effectively a 3D puzzle of welded-together shapes stamped out from metal sheets. As you can imagine, this process is arduous and lengthy. In contrast, Gigacasting uses casting machines to force molten metal into moulds under high pressure to produce large aluminium body parts and, in some cases, entire sections of the frame. Casting such huge parts with high enough quality and tolerance levels to be automotive-grade is incredibly difficult. As such, these casting machines use thousands of tonnes of pressing force to ensure the molten metal fits and forms to the mould perfectly, hence the name “giga”.
Tesla first used gigacasting back in 2019 for the Model Y production line. This first gigapress produced the rear floor section of the car’s chassis with a pressing force equivalent to 9,000 tonnes!
Okay, so why did Tesla use this technology?
Well, it is significantly quicker than welding, and as this chassis fabrication stage is a production bottleneck, speed improvements here can dramatically speed up the entire production line. This, in turn, means a factory can be way more efficient. Gigacasting is also far more automated than welding, reducing the number of highly trained staff required and significantly reducing operating costs. This automation also allows for greater scaling flexibility, as it doesn’t cost loads to have the machine running slower or faster. All of this combined means the cost to produce a chassis using gigacasting is significantly lower than that of a welded one, and this is why Tesla is one of the few EV makers with 20%+ profit margins.
However, as I said, this technology isn’t exclusive to Tesla, and other manufacturers are rapidly adopting it. Volvo, Toyota, Mercedes, VW, GM, and Hyundai are all currently deploying their own gigacasting machines. Tesla’s biggest international rival, BYD, already uses gigacasting in many of its EVs, and after extensive collaboration with BYD, Toyota is even talking about gigacasting entire portions of its chassis in one go! That’s something Tesla hasn’t even dreamt of yet.
This rapid deployment will have a significant impact on the EV market, as it will reduce production costs across the entire industry! In fact, a recent report from research group Gartner states that EVs will be cheaper to purchase than combustion engine cars by 2027 because of this rapid adoption.
So, over the next few years, Tesla’s last significant advantage over the EV industry will be gone. What’s more, as these presses cost a tonne, they need to be used for a long time to reach the economies we are discussing. As such, as companies like Toyota take this technology even further and reduce their production costs even more than Tesla has by casting larger parts of the car, Tesla will likely struggle to catch up. Don’t get me wrong; this doesn’t mean Teslas are going to become obsolete in the next few years. They are still fantastic EVs with great technology (though I have made my feelings known about the safety of Tesla’s self-driving). It just means that they will become simply another player in the EV market, not a leader.
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Sources: Gartner, Will Lockett, IDRA, Automotive News, The Autopian, Clean Technica, The Driven