Tesla is constantly looking for new ways to reduce the production costs of its increasingly popular electric vehicles. The latest method the company is exploring involves “gigapresses,” giant jigs that can die-cast a car’s entire underbody in one piece, Portal reported.
The traditional way to make a car is to make about 400 different parts that fit together. Producing the entire vehicle in one operation simplifies the process significantly – but it also brings with it many dangers and disadvantages that have made other car manufacturers wary of the process.
“It’s an enabler on steroids,” Terry Woychowski, president of engineering firm Caresoft Global, said in the Portal report. “It has a huge impact on the industry but is a very challenging task. Castings are very difficult, especially when they are larger and more complicated.”
Explaining the complication, an automaker consultant told Portal: “Fixing design defects is much easier when the body consists of several small parts rather than a single module.”
Given all the design flaws that have plagued Tesla in the past, this is certainly a cause for concern. A Tesla owner recently took to Reddit to point out the myriad problems with assembling his $140,000 Model S. He said, “Looks like little kids put it together at recess.”
The question also arises as to whether the process can be used and optimized for several different vehicle types at the same time.
“I guess it’s almost impossible,” another manufacturing consultant told Portal. “This could impact the company’s overall efficiency as Tesla’s model range is sure to become more diverse and complex.”
All in all, given the company’s history, there’s certainly reason to doubt that Tesla will be able to deliver an entirely new design process that allows it to produce finished products faster than other automakers – but anything is possible.
After all, despite the shortcomings noted by some, Tesla has one of the best customer satisfaction track records and is by far the most profitable all-electric automaker. One just has to hope that the Gigapress bet pays off to continue this success.
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