Tesla has announced that it started operating what is believed to be the “world’s largest casting machine” at Fremont factory.
As we previously reported, Tesla has made some significant casting advancement with the introduction of the Model Y.
The electric SUV’s rear underbody is built with only two cast parts, compared to 70 parts for the Model 3.
The improvement has been praised by car manufacturing experts like Sandy Munron, who did one of the first breakdowns of the Model Y.
But Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that Tesla wouldn’t stop there as they plan to make the entire rear underbody in one single part and other bigger cast parts after installing a new giant casting machine at their Fremont Factory.
Last week, we reported on Tesla installing what is believed to be the world’s biggest casting machine outside Fremont factory.
The machine is so big that it couldn’t be assembled inside the factory, so Tesla seems to have assembled it outside and built a roof over it.
Now we learn that Tesla has started operating the factory just over a week later. The automaker made the announcement on its official Chinese Weibo account:
In the announcement, Tesla argues that it not only improves vehicles through over-the-air software upgrades but also through regular hardware and manufacturing improvement.
Then the automaker confirms the start of operation of the new machine (roughly translated from Chinese):
Multi-directional single casting machine for car body has started operation at Tesla Fremont factory.
A patent application filed last year revealed this new multi-directional casting process that Tesla plans to use on Model Y.
As we previously reported, along with the new casting machine, Tesla has upgraded its GA4 assembly line earlier this month.
It built a parallel line and a new subframe line, which should be fed by parts from this new casting machines.
Electrek’s Take
Again, we expected a significant production increase from all this capacity being deployed, but the timeline wasn’t clear.
The start of operation of the new casting machine is already a good sign that things are moving fast.
I can’t wait to see the exit rate at the end of Q3.
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