This wave is hailed as a "technological revolution" of the final assembly process change, the main engine factory won; and the losing side is undoubtedly the consumer who pays for all the changes.
Author 丨 Huang Yaopeng
Edited 丨tian grass
Produced 丨 Automan Media
Since the beginning of this year, Tesla Model Y integrated die-cast body has encountered the dilemma of insurance claims more than once.
The whole vehicle of 280,000 yuan (now the standard price has risen to 316,900 yuan), reversing caused the rear side of the car to hit, the area is not large, but the damage is serious (injury to the body frame), and the maintenance cost is estimated to be as high as 200,000 yuan. Although the car was picked up for less than half a year, the car basically lost its maintenance value.
Public opinion this dish, cold and more delicious. When the argument is fruitless, you may wish to wait until the real result occurs. Asymmetry is difficult to prove, but falsification requires only a counterexample.
1
Why use less
If it is a general car repair?
In a situation like this that hurts a large frame, if it cannot be repaired by sheet metal, the damaged part can be cut and split along the original welding point, and the new accessories can be repaired by welding, without the need to replace the entire body. The main value of the car is concentrated in the front (fuel vehicle) or chassis (electric vehicle), and the rear of the collision can not talk about the scrapping of the whole vehicle.
But Tesla is clearly not ordinary. The vast majority of passenger cars are stamped welded, while tesla Model Y uses "integrated die casting" molding technology to press the aluminum solution into the mold through an 8,000-ton die casting machine. The original "assembly of the lower body" of 370 parts spliced has now become two or three castings, without welding or assembly.
The technology, announced at Tesla Battery Day in September 2020, has actually been in the pipeline for three or four years. Last year, die casting machines were deployed in Vermont, California (2 units), Shanghai (3 units), Berlin (8 units), and Austin, Texas (1 unit).
Tesla is not the first oem to adopt die-casting technology (Ford Motor took the lead in adopting the F150), nor is it a R&D manufacturer of die-casting machines, but only the first main engine factory to adopt this technology in its entire range. But it feels like it was made by it, which reflects Tesla's appeal.
This technology has many benefits for OEMs. Model Y is an all-aluminum body, aluminum heat resistance is poor, processing accuracy is poor, welding defects are more suitable for riveting, and OEMs can also use more troublesome pulse welding to ensure strength.
Aluminum is suitable for die casting is obvious, not only reduces the weight of the body, but also saves multiple sets of molds, equipment investment, plant footprint, vehicle man-hours investment. Simply put, save weight, save time, save place, in the final analysis, save money.
The same level of steel body, the cost of the body in white is about 14,000 yuan, the cost of the steel and aluminum hybrid body is about 20,000 yuan, and the cost of the all-aluminum welded body is 30,000 yuan.
The die-cast aluminum body costs 0.8 million yuan. Moreover, all aspects of the supply chain of stamping welding, from supplier review, stamping equipment procurement, mold manufacturing, welding fixtures, welding guns, gauges, parts logistics, and operator training salaries, are all eliminated.
This results in a more compact line layout, faster production cycle times, and faster capacity expansion.
However, the shortcomings are also obvious, and the initial yield rate is touching. And the die casting machine is too expensive, often about 700 million yuan (die casting machine + auxiliary machine + mold), a single model output must be large, mold reuse rate is high, so as to dilute the fixed investment cost. Tesla's Model Y just meets almost all the requirements for applying the technology.
Larger OEMs are studying die-casting technology, but there are very few manufacturers. Ford also uses die-casting technology on the F150, first because the F150 also uses an all-aluminum body; second, because the F150 is expensive enough to bear the cost. The biggest reason for the F150 to use die casting is actually to reduce weight.
Overall, for the main engine factory, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages; but for consumers, the cost of post-maintenance can be called a disaster.
2
Who wins and who loses
At that time, public opinion was controversial about this.
Opponents of the "disaster theory" claim that this design is beneficial to consumers, and once there is a situation that hurts the casting, any repair point is impossible to repair, and can only be replaced, avoiding the purchase of a second-hand car that covers up the big accident. Although it costs a lot of money, it is all paid for by insurance.
There are also brain-hole people who claim that Tesla will reduce the accident rate through self-driving technology, and this argument is so many that it is not worth seriously discussing.
If insurance agencies allow this to happen again and again, actuaries should resign and apologize. But in fact, insurance companies recognize this earlier than the average consumer.
In February this year, with the approval of the Insurance Regulatory Commission, new energy vehicle insurance was generally raised. In particular, the Tesla Model Y, if insured in January full insurance (commercial insurance), was 8278 yuan; at the end of February, it became 14902 yuan, up 80%.
After several months of running-in, insurance companies quickly realized that the pressure of new maintenance costs brought about by die-cast bodies must be transferred to car owners again.
This wave is regarded as the "technological revolution" of the final assembly process changes, the main engine factory won, reduce the comprehensive manufacturing cost, expand production became easier; die casting machine suppliers won, got the order, originally represented by IDRA die casting enterprises, has been dying; the insurance industry does not lose or win, the new costs are transferred out.
The losing side is undoubtedly the consumer who pays for all the changes. Die casting is not a new invention, but large-scale adoption in the production of passenger cars is also an invention, which can be called a "german-deficient invention".
3
"Replaceable" repairs
Tesla's direct-operated model, with this non-repairable structure, is simply a perfect match. Tesla's direct operation model is commonly known as "pipe killing and burial".
The authorized dealers of car companies have established not only sales networks, but more importantly, after-sales networks, and most of the profits of dealers should come from car repairs, especially after customers accumulate.
Tesla's integrated body, if the impact of the body frame is injured, either the whole car is scrapped, or the sky-high price and protracted maintenance are not in the interests of dealers, and Tesla just does not have dealers.
Once the cost of repair exceeds 70% of the salvage value, the insurance company will recommend scrapping. The direct sales center, which is not able to undertake too many and too complicated maintenance tasks, is too late to be happy and wins again; consumers buy a new car and win three times, which is simply a win.
Tesla made this kind of body, saving costs by establishing its own after-sales network. There are 9 Tesla centers in Beijing, and only by reducing the frequency of after-sales services can we avoid the cost of building a large number of self-built service networks as much as possible.
It is a good idea to only change it or to directly scrap it and buy a new one.
If it doesn't bring value to the end consumer, it won't help build the brand. In the end there is no improvement, who uses who knows, the loss of hemp is the consumer. Theoretically they can vote with their feet, but what if they come across a strong brand? Doesn't seem like a big drawback.
Consumers cannot be blamed for lack of foresight, and rational consumers take this part of the cost (insurance) into the total cost. If "integrated die casting" becomes the consensus of the industry, voting with the foot will not work.
This also makes us realize that not all measures that are not detrimental to consumers cannot be introduced, and strong brands can still harm others and benefit themselves without scruples.
Mobile phone batteries were previously widely designed for consumers to disassemble and replace themselves, and later became that consumers could not (or were difficult) to replace themselves, and Apple was the initiator. However, consumers did not abandon Apple because of this, but friends and businessmen collectively followed, which became a common practice in the industry.
It can be expected that if the output of a single model is large enough, other conditional OEMs will not only have the possibility of follow-up, but also great. Soon we will see that Tesla is not the only one with the "one-piece die-cast" body.
This round of game is the reorganization of the production process by the main engine factory based on comprehensive cost considerations; and the consumer's right to speak in the process is weaker than imagined.
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