According to the Shanghai Securities News on Wednesday, which cited anonymous sources close to the company, Tesla (TSLA.O) is improving its “gig casting” technique to die cast nearly all of the vehicle’s underbody pieces in one piece.
The state-owned Chinese publication did not disclose the upgrade’s timing and location, which based its article on a recent visit to Tesla’s Shanghai facility.
This month, according to Reuters, Tesla was getting close to developing a breakthrough enabling it to die cast almost the whole undercarriage of an electric vehicle in one piece.
To reduce production costs, Tesla invented the “gigacasting” method, which uses massive presses with 6,000 to 9,000 tons of clamping pressure to mold the front and back structures of the Model Y.
Since 2020, Tesla has been die-casting the Model Y’s rear at its Shanghai factory, the company’s largest manufacturing facility globally, enabling it to reduce associated costs by 40%.
Chinese EV manufacturers, including Xpeng (9868. HK) and Geely’s (0175. HK) Zeekr, have employed “gigapressing” technology in their manufacturing to lighten the weight of the vehicles and save expenses, according to the Shanghai Securities News.