Ford and Hyundai getting the Giga Press

[JeffKeryk]

Those ridiculous Tesla Giga Presses, what stupid idea, right? What's wrong with the boneheads at Ford and Hyundai? Oh yeah, and Toyota too, so there's that. Everybody's stupid now...
All kidding aside, in manufacturing there's an old saying, "The best part is no part." It refers to Bill of Material and assembly simplification, not to mention procurement.
Now if a single part replaces several, or even hundreds including welds, fasteners and glues, it had better be right. But if you get it right the margin of error improvement from an assembly to a single part provides a huge benefit.

Think of a spoke wheel vs a cast or stamped steel wheel. Which is stronger and which is more true? And easier to make?
For extra credit: how many of you know how to lace a wheel?
You'd think you were in a Tesla factory if it weren't for the blue oval...

 

[E365]

Technically they’re not “Tesla Giga Presses”. They’re Idra Giga Presses. That’s why anyone can just buy one, not just Tesla.

Idra is the driving force behind the current casting trend. Tesla just buys their machines. Cadillac was one of the first to use them with the 2016+ CT6, then Tesla further expanded on that with the Model Y castings.

Idra had plans to cast entire cars decades ago.

 

[meep]

I loved lacing wheels. It’s been a while. Once I got a feel for it, it seemed like second nature, a form of art.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Technically they’re not “Tesla Giga Presses”. They’re Idra Giga Presses.

Idra is the driving force behind the current casting trend. Tesla just buys their machines. Cadillac was one of the first to use them with the 2016+ CT6, then Tesla further expanded on that with the Model Y castings.

Idra had plans to cast entire cars decades ago.

Not really...
IDRA Group developed the Giga Press in collaboration with Tesla. The Giga Press is a series of high-pressure aluminum die casting machines. The IDRA Group introduced the Giga Press in late 2018.

 

[JWC86]

It does make sense from a manufacturing standpoint. I guess a down side is since it’s a bigger part that’s involved with more other parts(did that make sense?) replacement will be more expensive.

I just laced a wheel last winter.

 

[E365]

Not really...
IDRA Group developed the Giga Press in collaboration with Tesla. The Giga Press is a series of high-pressure aluminum die casting machines. The IDRA Group introduced the Giga Press in late 2018.

But “Giga Press” is just a marketing term for that generation of Idra’s presses. Idra has been making other high pressure die cast machines for decades. These types of presses already existed, just not quite as large.

Here’s the 2013 press release for the two, 4,400 ton Idra machines that went into the Michigan Magna facility that made the CT6 parts.

Magna Contracts for New Diecasting Capacity

2 x 4,400-mt cold-chamber diecasting machines Second project in development in China More machines to come, as capacity requires

www.foundrymag.com

I guess bottom-line is I’ll give Tesla credit for committing to castings. I think they’re amazing components. But, there’s endless articles that suggest this was all Tesla’s idea - which is false. It had been done before, just no one committed to the technology at the scope and scale Tesla did. Props to them.

 

[MrHorspwer]

God are Tesla simps tiring.

Don't you know that Idra wasn't capable of producing anything and HPDC was only a concept until Elon Musk himself urinated into the molten metal before it was injected into the die, at which point it magically spit out a Model Y casting?

 

[97prizm]

Those ridiculous Tesla Giga Presses, what stupid idea, right? What's wrong with the boneheads at Ford and Hyundai? Oh yeah, and Toyota too, so there's that. Everybody's stupid now...
All kidding aside, in manufacturing there's an old saying, "The best part is no part." It refers to Bill of Material and assembly simplification, not to mention procurement.
Now if a single part replaces several, or even hundreds including welds, fasteners and glues, it had better be right. But if you get it right the margin of error improvement from an assembly to a single part provides a huge benefit.

Think of a spoke wheel vs a cast or stamped steel wheel. Which is stronger and which is more true? And easier to make?
For extra credit: how many of you know how to lace a wheel?
You'd think you were in a Tesla factory if it weren't for the blue oval...
View attachment 183180

Yeah and GM invented hydroformed rails for the Corvette. I hate to say it but even Sandy Munro said that Tesla is heading and currently making disposable non-repairable vehicles. The giga whatever press cast machine essentially makes the vehicle non-repairable. That's wastefu, what Elon has preached about making a "green" environmentally conscious vehicle. Don't get to happy for Tesla as they continue to lose market share. Yes they are selling but when they had to offer referral deals again a couple of months back means they're not flying off the lot.

Tesla EV Market Share Continues To Drop In US​

Just a decade ago Tesla was the only major player in the EV game, but the competition is heating up.​

"According to data from Experian, Tesla’s share of the market is now just 58 percent, which is seven points down from what it was at this time last year. Considering the company spends zero budget on advertising and doesn’t have a PR team at all, it’s astonishing that the company is still experiencing model sales growth, but this could explain the dip in competitive reach. General Motors has been spending lots of money advertising its electric models, and Chevrolet has seen near three-fold growth in EV registrations across the first 8 months of 2023 compared to 2024. As a result, it now owns six percent of the EV market in the U.S. (admittedly still a small market to be fighting in at just under four percent of total registrations)."

 

[Kira]

Is lacing a wheel what's done to tubular, sew-up (high pressure) bicycle tires?

 

[JWC86]

Is lacing a wheel what's done to tubular, sew-up (high pressure) bicycle tires?

Any wheel with spokes really.

 

[Astro14]

Not really...
IDRA Group developed the Giga Press in collaboration with Tesla. The Giga Press is a series of high-pressure aluminum die casting machines. The IDRA Group introduced the Giga Press in late 2018.

High pressure die cast aluminum tech has been around long before Tesla. I’ve got several cars with engines that are the result of that process.

The Tesla change was one of scale - a more extensive part.

Which both saves manufacturing cost, and makes the car far more difficult to repair in the event of collision.

I think Tesla is merely the leading edge of an industry that is making cars into disposable devices, like an iPhone.

Look at the threads on the lack of spare parts for cars over ten years old, threads on dealers refusing work on cars over a certain age. Unsupported and disposable as they age.

Just like an electronic device.

 

[KrisZ]

Cars have been headed into the disposable direction for a long time now. Electric cars will just make it happen quicker.

 

[UncleDave]

Yeah and GM invented hydroformed rails for the Corvette. I hate to say it but even Sandy Munro said that Tesla is heading and currently making disposable non-repairable vehicles. The giga whatever press cast machine essentially makes the vehicle non-repairable. That's wastefu, what Elon has preached about making a "green" environmentally conscious vehicle. Don't get to happy for Tesla as they continue to lose market share. Yes they are selling but when they had to offer referral deals again a couple of months back means they're not flying off the lot.

Tesla EV Market Share Continues To Drop In US​

Just a decade ago Tesla was the only major player in the EV game, but the competition is heating up.​

"According to data from Experian, Tesla’s share of the market is now just 58 percent, which is seven points down from what it was at this time last year. Considering the company spends zero budget on advertising and doesn’t have a PR team at all, it’s astonishing that the company is still experiencing model sales growth, but this could explain the dip in competitive reach. General Motors has been spending lots of money advertising its electric models, and Chevrolet has seen near three-fold growth in EV registrations across the first 8 months of 2023 compared to 2024. As a result, it now owns six percent of the EV market in the U.S. (admittedly still a small market to be fighting in at just under four percent of total registrations)."

It was a mathematical certainly Tesla would lose market share, but that didn't stop them from becoming the worlds most valuable car company.

Market share as an individual metric is only ever part of a bigger story - a relevant example of this would be that in 2009 General Motors was the largest car company in the world when they filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

 

[IndyIan]

Cars have been headed into the disposable direction for a long time now. Electric cars will just make it happen quicker.

Maybe they will be easier to recycle?
I think if car makers are going to design to make major repairs unfeasible, then they need to design for the whole thing to be recycled efficiently... Especially the batteries.

 

[JeffKeryk]

High pressure die cast aluminum tech has been around long before Tesla. I’ve got several cars with engines that are the result of that process.

The Tesla change was one of scale - a more extensive part.

Which both saves manufacturing cost, and makes the car far more difficult to repair in the event of collision.

I think Tesla is merely the leading edge of an industry that is making cars into disposable devices, like an iPhone.

Look at the threads on the lack of spare parts for cars over ten years old, threads on dealers refusing work on cars over a certain age. Unsupported and disposable as they age.

Just like an electronic device.

Agree 100%, Tesla is using a technology that existed long before. But in vision and execution, can you imagine any other car company attempting such a big bet? To your "leading edge" point (bleeding edge?) now others are getting in line with "Giga" Casting; Elon seems to love that word doesn't he?

The crash damage repair question remains to be seen. Supposedly the casting design allows for certain damaged portions to be cut out and replacements welded in. The casting is very strong; a crash bad enough to ruin the casting would already render the vehicle totaled. That's the positive viewpoint anyways. More quickly disposable (expensive!) is the flip side.

What will the actual results be? Time will tell. I am looking forward to test driving the Highland, as our car is an early version from Dec 2018. I hear the new version rides and drives differently, some have dubbed it "German". The Giga Casting has resulted in better rigidity.