Although Musk is the world's richest man, worth 290.3 billion US dollars, and has said that money is just a data bar, no one may be more critical than his use of every penny, and the cost compression is more crazy. Selling houses to support SpaceX's Mars program; moving its headquarters from California to Texas; PR fees, slashing; marketing fees, never had; and following an assistant for 12 years, also fired.
Of course, we are not gossip media, or let's see how Musk squeezes costs in Tesla production and manufacturing, and today we want to talk about the recently popular Model Y one-piece die casting technology. Why did Tesla pioneer this technology, for what considerations, where are the cattle, why is a bunch of automakers following the trend, is it good or bad for us?
What is one-piece die casting technology?
Let's take the picture first, the yellow part above is the model Y's one-piece die-cast rear plate assembly. Such a large piece is actually formed in one piece, consisting of only 2 parts (and may be compressed into 1 later). You may not have the concept, compare it to the Model 3, the same position, the same chassis rear base plate requires more than 70 parts.
The so-called integrated die-casting technology refers to a new casting method that highly integrates multiple separate and dispersed aluminum alloy parts through a large-tonnage die casting machine, and then forms and die-casts into 1-2 large aluminum castings, replacing the traditional multiple parts, stamping and then welding together.
Maximum advantage, fast and saver
How is it different from the traditional way? The traditional body manufacturing process mainly includes four major links of stamping, welding, painting and assembly, one ring buckle and one ring, and the process flow is complicated. The integrated die casting integration is highly efficient and can also reduce manufacturing costs.
Let's start with efficiency
Does it save a lot of steps to integrate 70 parts into 1-2 large aluminum castings? Instead of stamping and welding each part, it is formed once. The Shanghai plant has an average of 1 Model Y off the production line every 2 minutes, and a large die casting machine takes less than 2 minutes to die casting processing, which only takes 80-90 seconds. And if you use the traditional processing process, stamping and then welding these 70 parts to assemble a part, it takes at least 2 hours, 2 minutes and 2 hours, the efficiency you see how fast.
And the integrated casting is a separate station, do not care about the beat of other processes, you can open as long as you want, the beat is not fast enough to add a die casting machine on the line. Of course, there are not many die-casting machines in Tesla factories at present, and the data shows that by 2020, Tesla has purchased 15 units, 7 in the United States, 4 in Germany, and 4 in Shanghai.
Let's talk about cost
The official gave a set of data, after the use of integrated die casting technology, the production and manufacturing costs of each vehicle were reduced by 20%, and this did not include various procurement, logistics, inventory and other costs of upstream suppliers, otherwise it may be 40%.
Musk emphasizes the importance of cost control the most, and the integrated die casting technology can save 20%-40% at once, how can he not use it. Musk has been thinking about reducing costs and producing cheaper cars all day, and has said before that he is confident that he will build an electric car with fully autonomous driving function that costs only $25,000 around 2023. You think Tesla is going to be Apple, but he's thinking about making Xiaomi.
However, this technology has not yet covered all Tesla models, and only the Model Y is currently used, which is a completely new attempt. Of course, now it is only the rear bottom plate part that uses the one-piece die-casting structural parts, and it is not possible to make the whole car one-piece die-casting. However, the bottom plate after the production of this piece of light requires a 6,000-ton die casting machine, which is also the largest die casting equipment at present. In the future, it is also expected to see 8,000 tons of die-cast larger parts, and it will be applied to the electric pickup card Cyberteruck.
In addition to the two advantages of fast and saving, the integrated die-casting technology has many other benefits, for example, it can make the whole vehicle lose 10% weight, electric vehicles are generally heavier than fuel vehicles, and the lightweight weight reduction of 10% can bring 14% of the endurance improvement; the integral molding has a stronger overall rigidity than the parts welding, which is very helpful for chassis control rigidity, and it is more regular and solid to open.
Why choose the rear backplane
See here, have you found a problem, since it is a one-piece molding, 70 parts integrated into 1-2, then in case of crash damage, is not to be replaced in its entirety? The manufacturing cost is down, but the cost of post-maintenance and replacement has soared? And don't forget that it's aluminum.
It is true, but in foreign countries, labor costs are much higher than material costs, and most of them only change and do not repair. In China, the repair shop 4S shop labor is cheap, and the large parts are a little unsuitable for market demand. Previously, it was rumored that the Model Y hit the rear side of the car when reversing, injuring the interior, and Tesla's official quotation estimated the cost of 200,000. However, this case is only an isolated case, and it has not been confirmed, and it is not known whether it is true or false.
Tesla must have taken this situation into account when designing the program. In fact, contrary to common sense, it is precisely because the back plate is not easily damaged that Tesla carried out one-piece die casting here. This part is wrapped in the body, is the rear part of the rear seat, but also the position of the traditional car fuel tank, the place where the electric vehicle is laid battery pack, rarely hits such a deep, and the probability of collision damage is very small. Taking a step back, if there is a big damage here, it is basically not far from the scrapping of the whole vehicle. Therefore, do not exaggerate the cost of replacement parts for integral molding, and replace it here because the entire rear of the car has to be replaced.
It is easy to produce waste products, and the accuracy is defective
So well said, why is it not a mainstream craft? Is it because technology is hard? Not really, but it also has a lot of drawbacks. But Tesla accepted, such as ancestral quality control problems, large gaps, rough workmanship and so on.
The structure of this large part is more complex than dozens of small ones, and the wall thickness and thin wall structure change a lot, and the tolerance is difficult to control well when the one-piece die casting is good. A series of steps to eliminate bubbles, cooling, heat treatment, etc., one is not well controlled, which will greatly reduce the accuracy of the die casting, resulting in defects, the scrap rate is relatively high, and the refinement is not enough. But Tesla does not care about these problems, feel that it is not a big deal, first get the speed of car building, these flaws rely on technical iteration and process optimization to slowly improve.
Which automakers follow suit?
Although it is not yet the mainstream technical process, but the integrated die casting will be the future trend, the domestic from the new forces to the traditional manufacturers are gradually followed, we listed the following:
In October 2021, NIO developed and manufactured heat-free materials for large die castings, and the rear seat plate of the new car ET5 uses one-piece die casting technology;
In 2023, Xiaopeng Automobile will launch two new model platforms, the C-class platform and the B-class car platform, which will use super-large integrated die-cast body;
The structural parts of the rear compartment of the one-piece super large die-cast vehicle of Gaohe Automobile rolled off the production line in February 2022;
Xiaokang Automobile plans to achieve integrated die-cast body manufacturing from 2022 to 2023;
In the traditional car companies, Volkswagen, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and Audi have also begun to lay out the integrated die-casting process of the body and chassis, and which car company will not be careless about reducing costs and improving efficiency.
The 6,000-ton die-casting machine is actually domestic
Back to the beginning, Musk likes the one-piece die casting technology so much, and has also driven a large number of car factories, is this his family's patented technology? Not. Because this 6,000-ton super large die casting machine comes from the Chinese manufacturer headquartered in Hong Kong Call lijin technology, the world's largest sales die casting machine manufacturer, there are 8 production bases, domestic brands even have the advantage of near the water tower. Based on geographical relations, its promotion in China should have more advantages.
What does it have to do with "me"?
Finally, let's talk about what relationship with our consumers, it seems that this is just the difference in the car-making process, whether it is the traditional four major processes, or the current one-piece die-casting technology, which is "invisible" for consumers, but it is faster and more economical, which will actually indirectly affect the terminal, we all have this feeling, the new force of pure electric car lifting time seems to be longer, if the large-scale use of this technology, waiting for the car time is naturally shorter. The car company has lower manufacturing costs, and we are getting closer and closer to the dream of "Tesla of $25,000".