Watch: World’s Largest Casting Machine in Action at Tesla’s Fremont Factory
Originally published on Tesla Oracle & EV Annex.
There’s a reason why Tesla calls it a Giga Casting machine. The giant apparatus seen in the following video is the world’s biggest of its kind.
 Robots attached to the Tesla Giga Casting Machine at work (Source: Tesla) |
Currently, there are multiple Giga Casting machines installed and functioning at Tesla’s Fremont factory. These machines were first seen in a drone video shoot prior to Tesla’s Battery Day. Later, Tesla provided an inside look that gives us an idea of how these massive mechanical giants work.
World’s biggest die casting machine pic.twitter.com/MegnFPKQfh
— Tesla (@Tesla) February 5, 2021
Due to the lack of space inside the Fremont factory floor, Tesla has installed these machines out in an open area on the factory premises. These machines are being used to produce Model Y’s front and rear underbody single-piece castings — a solution that has expedited Tesla vehicle production and lowered the cost of manufacturing.
Tesla’s Model Y production efforts at Gigafactory Shanghai also take advantage of these Giga Casting machines. Therefore, Tesla’s Made-in-China Model Ys are also made with the single-piece die-casts underbody.
 Tesla Model Y Giga die-cast machines at Gigafactory Shanghai, China (Source: Tesla Q4 2020 results report) |
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin will have eight of these Giga Casting machines, the most any of the Gigafactories around the world have (or will have) in the near future. Although, it’s certainly possible we could be surprised at Giga Austin.
Giga Berlin will be kicking off Model Y production this year, creating competition in the European midsize SUV and EV markets at the same time. Tesla Model Y prices in Europe are expected to be reduced as local production begins to ramp up.
In addition, Elon Musk recently hinted that Tesla is working on an even bigger casting machine that will cast the entire car’s frame in a single piece.
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