Workers of the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin Brandenburg work on a manufacturing line of a Mannequin Y electrical automobile. The Tesla plant was opened and put into operation on March 22, 2022.
Patrick Pleul | Image Alliance | Getty Photographs
Tesla has backed away from an formidable plan for improvements in gigacasting, its pioneering manufacturing course of, in response to two sources accustomed to the matter, in one other signal that the electric-vehicle maker is retrenching amid falling gross sales and rising competitors.
Tesla has been a frontrunner in gigacasting, a cutting-edge approach that makes use of big presses with 1000’s of tons of clamping strain to die-cast massive sections of the automobile’s underbody. On a typical automobile, the underbody can encompass tons of of particular person components.
Final 12 months, as Tesla developed a brand new small-vehicle platform, it aimed to punch out the underbody in a single piece, Reuters solely reported final September, citing 5 sources accustomed to the automaker’s gigacasting operations. The long-term aim was to radically simplify manufacturing and slash prices.
However Tesla has since halted the hassle, opting to stay with its extra confirmed methodology of casting automobile underbodies in three items: two gigacasted entrance and rear sections and a midsection product of aluminum and metal frames to retailer batteries, in response to the 2 sources accustomed to the matter. That’s largely the identical three-piece methodology the corporate has used for its final two new fashions, the Mannequin Y crossover SUV and the Cybertruck pickup.
Tesla’s retreat from one-piece gigacasting has not been beforehand reported. The automaker didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The choice to carry off on the potential manufacturing breakthrough marks one other instance of Tesla slashing short-term spending because it adjusts to falling gross sales and revenue margins, softening EV demand globally, and intensifying competitors from rival EV makers reminiscent of China’s BYD. Tesla final month laid off greater than 10% of its international workforce. A handful of senior executives have additionally resigned or been pushed out.
Such strikes additionally replicate a basic technique shift, with Tesla now focusing extra on growing self-driving autos than on pushing for big development in EV gross sales quantity, which many buyers had been relying on.
The step-back on gigacasting occurred final autumn, the folks mentioned, earlier than Tesla determined in late February to halt improvement of an all-new reasonably priced automobile, usually known as the Mannequin 2, which might have been the primary automobile it constructed with one-piece gigacasting. Reuters first reported the cancellation of the Mannequin 2 on April 5.
On April 23, because it launched earnings that missed Wall Road expectations, Tesla mentioned it had a less complicated, quicker plan for producing “extra reasonably priced” vehicles after shelving plans for the Mannequin 2, which was anticipated to value $25,000 and be launched within the second half of 2025.
As a substitute, Tesla officers mentioned, it will produce reasonably priced fashions utilizing a present platform and manufacturing strains. On an investor name, Chief Govt Elon Musk declined to supply particulars on the deliberate new choices or their goal costs.
Tesla has not fully deserted the small-vehicle platform it had deliberate for the Mannequin 2. As a substitute, it’s going to transfer ahead in growing a self-driving robotaxi on the identical platform, Reuters reported within the April 5 story. One of many two sources accustomed to the automaker’s gigacasting operations mentioned the suppliers concerned are actually adapting Tesla’s three-piece course of for the next-generation automobile.
Each sources mentioned the automaker determined final autumn to halt work on the extra progressive and tough one-piece casting course of. On the time, the rationale for the choice was to hurry improvement of the now-defunct Mannequin 2 and keep away from any pricey delays or manufacturing issues, the 2 sources mentioned.
Massive upfront funding
Tesla and Musk have mentioned gigacasting helps the automaker cut back prices over the long run. However the course of requires massive preliminary investments and is tough and time-consuming to good, automotive manufacturing consultants say.
Specialists in automobile manufacturing mentioned Tesla’s extra conservative path on gigacasting isn’t any shock and partially displays the pains it has skilled traditionally in launching advanced and progressive autos on time. The automaker’s extremely experimental Cybertruck arrived final autumn at a far greater value than predicted after substantial delays to work by manufacturing points. Tesla remains to be struggling to provide the angular, stainless-steel pickup in mass-market volumes.
Holding off on one-piece gigacasting will save the corporate from making large short-term capital investments in manufacturing and design, mentioned Terry Woychowski, president of U.S. engineering firm Caresoft International, who has led teardowns and engineering analyses on quite a few autos, together with Teslas.
“Would they reasonably have executed it multi functional large piece? Certain, they might’ve, however at what value?” Woychowski requested.
James Womack, a automobile manufacturing professional and former analysis director on the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise, mentioned Tesla’s gigacasting pullback displays the corporate’s scramble final 12 months to launch an all-new $25,000 automobile to meet up with Chinese language EV makers who’re already dominating the low-cost EV section.
However pushing ahead with an progressive manufacturing approach would do little to assist promote a Tesla automobile to shoppers, Womack mentioned.
“It isn’t very thrilling from the standpoint of the general public and purchaser,” Womack mentioned, “and you do not know whether or not that is actually a giant cost-saver or not.”
