With the Berlin plant opening in March and the Texas plant opening in April, Tesla's global expansion is faster. The two newest factories apply Tesla's latest technology, which is why Tesla is able to maintain an industry-leading gross margin of more than 30%.
The first is the 4680 battery cell, last year's battery day Tesla released the third generation of cylindrical cells, the most intuitive feeling is that it is much larger than the 1865 and 2170 cells, which also means a larger capacity.
Today, the Model Y produced in Berlin has been equipped with 4680 batteries, and a long-endurance version only needs more than 800 4680 batteries, and if it is replaced by 2170 batteries, it will take 4416 cells.
With the 4680 battery cell with a greater energy density, Tesla's second trick is to innovate on the chassis, directly integrating the battery and the chassis, eliminating the battery module and improving the volume utilization rate of the battery pack.
This CTC chassis allows the chassis of the electric car to be directly turned into a battery pack, which is perfect with Tesla's third trick - one-piece die-casting body.
In 2020, Tesla announced that it would use a single casting method to build a car, directly casting more than 70 components in the lower half of the rear of the car into one, and designed the world's largest die casting machine for this purpose.
At present, the Model Y produced in Berlin uses an integrated die-cast body in front and rear, coupled with a CTC chassis, so that the vehicle has higher strength and stiffness, the advantages of lightweight are obvious, and the driving performance is better.
Official data show that after the combination of these three, it can achieve 10% lightweight, 14% endurance improvement and a reduction of 370 parts, and the factory can use more than 300 industrial robots.
Of course, this innovation also has drawbacks, such as post-maintenance, after the damage of the integrated body, you can not only replace individual parts, but the whole must be replaced, so the cost will increase.
However, for car companies, the benefits are great, the cost can be controlled lower, the efficiency is higher, and the profit margin is higher. And these technologies are no longer Tesla's patents, such as the CTC chassis, which are currently being done in the Ningde era, BYD and Zero Run.
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