Gradually, the “revolution” in the construction of the body announced by Tesla CEO Elon Musk was supposed to begin: both at the new Gigafactory in Grünheide near Berlin and Texas, the Model Y is already being produced, which cannot yet be sold, according to Plans, larger parts of it will come from casting machines known as Giga presses than ever before. Right now, Tesla only wants to install a booster battery pack of its own 4,680 cells into the Model Y from the factory in Texas, but the new Giga parts are used equally in both. The advantages of this are described in detail in the now published patent application.
Tesla patent for more efficiency
From revolution and pistons giga In the international application Nothing to read, but from die casting (in English high pressure casting or HPDC for short) with aluminum or other alloys. Eight of the systems required for this were to be installed at the German Gigafactory and possibly the same number in Texas. Tesla is already using large Model Y pistons in Fremont and China, but only for the rear of the tire. In Germany and Texas, the front element will also be produced from a die casting.
This is exactly what was described in detail in the patent application. As a background, Tesla demonstrates that today’s impact energy absorption systems consist of a large number of individual components. This method of producing wrinkle areas cannot support the “increasing demand for efficient production and scalable design”. Instead, the costs and complexity of producing, installing, and maintaining previous systems became increasingly unbearable.
Tesla opposed this with an “integrated system of energy absorption” made of a single cast part, which thanks to its special structure is durable and subject to deformation in the right places. Specifically, one of these elements is described in the back and the other in the front, although Tesla would also like to protect all other possible towers. Also just as an example, the app mentions a central element in between, like the battery pack in build with 4,680 cells at the factory in Texas.
The German Model Y also benefits
This, CEO Musk explained at Battery Day in September 2020, has its own benefits. Among other things, it should mean less weight because the battery element is not installed in addition to the supporting frame, but as part of it. On the other hand, the German Gigafactory will initially use batteries from China, as Musk indicated and later confirmed during a visit to Grünheide last October.
But even without a chassis battery, according to the patent application, greater integration advantages play a role. This should not only save time, as each of the larger casting parts comes out of the giga piston within 60-120 seconds. In addition, according to Tesla, its chassis can be completely tailored to meet desired crash requirements, for example by making it thicker when viewed from front to back. In this way, a ‘gradual’ rupture (see image above) and subsequent fracturing can be achieved, ensuring robust and repeatable impact performance. This is particularly effective for cast materials with a high susceptibility to deformation, but suitable geometries for other metals can also be developed.