This article comes from the Wechat official account "knock on the blackboard" (ID:qiaoheiban8). Author: Huang Natural.
Whether once close to bankruptcy, or repeatedly involved in the whirlpool of public opinion, Tesla never stopped the pace of innovation.
This kind of innovation is not a tinkering on the shoulders of our predecessors, but from the first principle, it is enough to redefine the subversive innovation of the whole industry.
This is a single die-casting car body component, weighing 130kg, complex modeling structure, by 6000-ton die-casting machine Giga Press integrated die-casting molding.
Recently, Axel Turk, a German die casting expert, shared this picture from the Texas Super Factory on Linkedin and congratulated Tesla's engineers on their success in producing giant castings never seen in the automotive industry.
German die casting expert Turk posted the photo and pointed out that it was taken in a Texas super factory.
"arrogant and pot-bellied German carmakers with state support may fall from their heights as a result. "Turk wrote excitedly.
According to the photos released by Turk, the single casting is the bottom component of the Model Y front frame that Tesla showed on Battery Day last September.
At that time, Musk said that Tesla had developed a new chassis structure, the entire chassis structure of the main body, consisting of the front and rear parts of the single die-cast body components, and an integrated chassis integrated battery package.
The Model Y component that Musk showed on last year's Battery Day.
The inspiration comes from aerospace-aircraft manufacturers make wings in the shape of fuel tanks, rather than wings with fuel tanks inside.
Through structural innovation, Model Y can reduce 370 parts and increase life span by 14% while reducing weight by 10%.
Last year, Tesla realized the integrated die-casting of the entire rear body of Model Y (including the anti-collision steel beam), successfully integrating 70 parts into 2.
70 parts of Model 3 (left) integrated into Model Y (right) 2 parts
79 parts per Model Y
With the exposure of the bottom components of the front frame, Musk is one step closer to the ultimate goal of directly casting the entire body-in-white
We know that traditional car companies usually go through the technological process of stamping, welding, painting and final assembly, and the body-in-white is welded by a large number of stamping parts.
In order to simplify the car-building process, Musk proposed to use the die-casting process to directly cast the whole body-in-white, just like the matchbox alloy toy car.
Die casting is a metal casting process, the principle is similar to injection molding, high pressure is applied to the melted metal and injected into the mold to produce the desired parts and components.
Tesla Giga Press die casting integrated parts
This process is mostly used in aluminum alloy body manufacturing. Cadillac, BMW, Audi and other models have used aluminum alloy castings, but have never produced aluminum alloy car body castings as large as those on Model Y.
The patent for die-casting machine applied by Tesla earlier shows that in the future, Tesla's body is composed of five die-castings, the chassis is composed of three die-castings, and a car has only eight components.
Tesla Giga Press car patent map
This means that Tesla Super Factory does not need to manage a large number of body-in-white stamping parts in the future, simplifies welding and glue coating, and can greatly reduce manufacturing costs and shorten vehicle offline time.
In addition, the traditional stamping process produces a large amount of waste residue, Giga Press can be recycled like a toy car, and the utilization rate of raw materials is almost 100%.
The integrated die casting can also improve the endurance of the vehicle by reducing weight, increase the acting area of the anti-collision beam, improve the rigidity of the car body, and improve the collision safety by more than 20%.
Without the splicing of too many stamping parts, the quality consistency of car body components is also guaranteed.
As a result, Musk has always claimed that this will be "a revolution in car body engineering."
At present, Tesla has at least 14 giant die-casting machines, distributed in factories all over the world.
Giant Die casting Machine of Tesla Factory
It is difficult for other car companies to replicate Tesla's innovation.
Die-casting machines and die-casting moulds are very expensive, and it is difficult to share the cost without economies of scale, but at present, only Tesla can sell hundreds of thousands of steel-aluminum hybrid body cars a year.
In addition, Giga Press is jointly customized by Tesla and die-casting machine manufacturers. Tesla is deeply involved in the design and manufacture of software and hardware. Others can buy machines as well as technical configurations.
The most important thing is that Tesla's aluminum alloy material is an exclusive formula, without this material, Giga Press would not be able to produce such a large aluminum casting.
As early as 2016, Tesla hired Apple alloy expert Charles Coyman to lead the material engineering team of Tesla and Space X. only with material innovation can there be process innovation.
Apple alloy expert Charles Coyman
Yesterday, some readers left a message in the background, asking us why we pay so much attention to Tesla.
The answer is actually very simple, because no matter once close to bankruptcy, or repeatedly involved in the whirlpool of public opinion, Tesla never stopped the pace of innovation.
This kind of innovation is not a tinkering on the shoulders of our predecessors, but from the first principle, it is enough to redefine the subversive innovation of the whole industry.
Today, it is actually very difficult for you to bypass Tesla and talk about the landing application of some new technologies, new materials and new processes in the intelligent tram scene.
This is part of the reason why Tesla is always controversial.
Innovation without controversy may not be called innovation.
