It’s gone from one piece to a few.
Usually, automakers piece collectively the underbody from a whole bunch of particular person elements. However Tesla has been a frontrunner in utilizing large presses to die-cast massive sections, with the objective of finally producing the whole underbody in a single piece. The objective was to simplify the method whereas additionally dramatically lowering the prices of its manufacturing.
Tesla has additionally promoted one thing it referred to as its “unboxed” manufacturing course of, through which elements are assembled in devoted areas of a manufacturing facility after which all put collectively on the finish. The method was promised to hurry up automotive constructing whereas additionally chopping prices in half.
However now the corporate is reportedly sticking to the manufacturing course of that it makes use of for its Mannequin Y crossover and Cybertruck automobiles, through which the underbody is pieced collectively from three items: two gigacasted entrance and rear sections and a mid-section comprised of aluminum and metal the place the battery is saved, Reuters says.
The information is the newest dip within the rollercoaster that Tesla has been on because the begin of the 12 months when the corporate’s CEO Elon Musk warned of slower sales amid increasing competition in the US and China, its two important markets. Since then, the corporate has laid off over 10 p.c of its international workforce, misplaced a number of high executives, and reported earnings that got here up in need of even some Wall Road analysts’ most dire predictions.
A lot hope was pinned on the corporate’s forthcoming inexpensive EV, the so-called $25,000 “Mannequin 2.” However then Reuters reported final month that Musk canceled the project, preferring to sink the corporate’s assets into a completely autonomous robotaxi.
Tesla has since reaffirmed its plan to make extra inexpensive EVs, however Musk declined to share a lot in the best way of specifics throughout the company’s recent earnings call. In its Q1 report, Tesla mentioned its next-generation fashions “will make the most of features of the following technology platform in addition to features of our present platforms and can be capable of be produced on the identical manufacturing strains as our present automobile lineup.”
It wasn’t clear whether or not the extra inexpensive fashions could be a wholly new automobile or simply cheaper variations of the Mannequin 3 and Y.
When requested about Tesla’s gigacasting improvements because it pertains to its plans for extra inexpensive EVs and whether or not he was involved that the method could be copied by his Chinese language rivals, Musk pivoted to his favourite subject: autonomy.
“We must be regarded as an AI robotics firm,” he mentioned. “In the event you worth Tesla as similar to an auto firm… it’s simply the fallacious framework.”