Construction Physics has a very different take on the economics of the Giga-press.
Tesla was the first car manufacturer to adopt large castings, but the savings were so significant — an estimated 20 to 40% reduction in the cost of a car body — that they’re being adopted by many other car manufacturers, particularly Chinese ones. Large, complex castings have been described as a key tool for not only reducing cost but also good EV charging performance.
I think Construction Physics is usually pretty good. In this case my guess is that @bhauth has looked into this more deeply so I trust this post a bit more.
savings were so significant — an estimated 20 to 40% reduction in the cost of a car body
I think that should be “car frame”—the “body” includes things like doors. Anyway, I’m sure that was estimated by some people, but...
that they’re being adopted by many other car manufacturers, particularly Chinese ones
Not really? Several major carmakers were considering using the same approach after Tesla did that, but last I heard they’d backed off. That’s how big companies tend to work: executives see a competitor or startup doing something, and then they get some people (internal engineers, consultants, etc) to evaluate if they should be doing the same thing. Doesn’t mean they actually will.
good EV charging performance
To be clear, I’m not saying aluminum casting (or forging) is useless; there’s a reason people make a lot of aluminum. Battery compartments are one of the better places to use it, because the high thermal conductivity is relevant. But that’s different than casting large frame pieces or an entire frame.
As for very large presses for aluminum, those Heavy Press Program ones are several times bigger than Tesla’s, and I think friction stir welding progress making it possible to weld aluminum alloys without making weak points might have been why people didn’t keep going bigger—combined with even larger components being hard to transport, of course.
Construction Physics has a very different take on the economics of the Giga-press.
I think Construction Physics is usually pretty good. In this case my guess is that @bhauth has looked into this more deeply so I trust this post a bit more.
Let’s see...
I think that should be “car frame”—the “body” includes things like doors. Anyway, I’m sure that was estimated by some people, but...
Not really? Several major carmakers were considering using the same approach after Tesla did that, but last I heard they’d backed off. That’s how big companies tend to work: executives see a competitor or startup doing something, and then they get some people (internal engineers, consultants, etc) to evaluate if they should be doing the same thing. Doesn’t mean they actually will.
To be clear, I’m not saying aluminum casting (or forging) is useless; there’s a reason people make a lot of aluminum. Battery compartments are one of the better places to use it, because the high thermal conductivity is relevant. But that’s different than casting large frame pieces or an entire frame.
As for very large presses for aluminum, those Heavy Press Program ones are several times bigger than Tesla’s, and I think friction stir welding progress making it possible to weld aluminum alloys without making weak points might have been why people didn’t keep going bigger—combined with even larger components being hard to transport, of course.