10 ms·

The term "gigacasting" is just made up by Tesla right? It's just casting? The news uncritically letting a company just invent a new branded term for an existin

The term "gigacasting" is just made up by Tesla right? It's just casting? The news uncritically letting a company just invent a new branded term for an existing technology and parroting it in their reports comes across as very weak journalism. Honestly it means I have no trust that the journalist is bringing any insight/analysis/critical reading etc.

atoav 2y ago
Gigacasting is regular old casting but in a Gigafactory™. Just like gigafloorwiping or gigadustbinemptying.
ripjaygn 2y ago
It's not just casting. Right there in the second paragraph of the TFA: > Tesla has been a leader in gigacasting, a cutting-edge technique that uses huge presses with thousands of tons of clamping pressure to die-cast large sections of the car’s underbody. On a typical vehicle, the underbody can consist of hundreds of individual parts. Also, other car companies are copying Tesla. > Japan > In June 2023 Toyota announced that it was adopting casting technology for its electric vehicles. > In 2023 Japanese auto parts supplier Ryobi announced plans to cast large electric-vehicle body parts and expects to reduce car body manufacturing costs by 20%. > Volvo > By November 2023, orders had been placed for two 9000-tonnes-force Giga Press machines for a new Volvo electric vehicle factory at Košice, Slovakia.
- neuralRiot 2y ago
  If Tesla has been using the same design since 2017 with the stamping process, probably would run the same “gigacast” design until year 2100 to recoup the setup costs.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- PinguTS 2y ago
  Funfact: it is not invention by Tesla and it is not that other OEM are copying. It is an Italian company, that provides that equipment. It would be like, TSMC would branding a new technology while ASML is actually doing the shit.
  - kube-system 2y ago
    That's a pretty decent analogy. However, there are innovations that are correctly ascribed to TSMC (and in this case, Tesla) for their use of those new tools. Often new innovations are a combination of clever tooling and a clever way of using those tools.
  - pclmulqdq 2y ago
    Tesla does this with everything about their cars that they don't invent. The biggest example to me was the Panasonic battery cells (and battery production line) that Tesla sold for years as their own innovation.
lapetitejort 2y ago
The quotes around gigacasting implies that the word is unfamiliar to the reader. The article explains, and implies that the name is made up by Tesla: > Tesla has backed away from an ambitious plan for innovations in gigacasting, its pioneering manufacturing process, > Tesla has been a leader in gigacasting, a cutting-edge technique that uses huge presses with thousands of tons of clamping pressure to die-cast large sections of the car’s underbody. On a typical vehicle, the underbody can consist of hundreds of individual parts.
pacificmint 2y ago
The idea is to cast much larger pieces than before. Traditionally it might have been dozens of pieces. Tesla is currently doing the underbody in only three pieces, and they were trying to cast it as a single piece. Does that warrant a new word? I don’t know. But there is an innovation here in how it is manufactured.
- technofiend 2y ago
  It's my understanding this a way to cut manufacturing costs. One wonders what impact it has on repair costs, though. Tesla isn't going to replace the entire underbody whether it's a single piece or three pieces, are they? So how easy are these pieces to repair?

atoav 2y ago

Gigacasting is regular old casting but in a Gigafactory™. Just like gigafloorwiping or gigadustbinemptying.

ripjaygn 2y ago

It's not just casting. Right there in the second paragraph of the TFA: > Tesla has been a leader in gigacasting, a cutting-edge technique that uses huge presses with thousands of tons of clamping pressure to die-cast large sections of the car’s underbody. On a typical vehicle, the underbody can consist of hundreds of individual parts. Also, other car companies are copying Tesla. > Japan > In June 2023 Toyota announced that it was adopting casting technology for its electric vehicles. > In 2023 Japanese auto parts supplier Ryobi announced plans to cast large electric-vehicle body parts and expects to reduce car body manufacturing costs by 20%. > Volvo > By November 2023, orders had been placed for two 9000-tonnes-force Giga Press machines for a new Volvo electric vehicle factory at Košice, Slovakia.

neuralRiot 2y ago
If Tesla has been using the same design since 2017 with the stamping process, probably would run the same “gigacast” design until year 2100 to recoup the setup costs.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
PinguTS 2y ago
Funfact: it is not invention by Tesla and it is not that other OEM are copying. It is an Italian company, that provides that equipment. It would be like, TSMC would branding a new technology while ASML is actually doing the shit.
- kube-system 2y ago
  That's a pretty decent analogy. However, there are innovations that are correctly ascribed to TSMC (and in this case, Tesla) for their use of those new tools. Often new innovations are a combination of clever tooling and a clever way of using those tools.
- pclmulqdq 2y ago
  Tesla does this with everything about their cars that they don't invent. The biggest example to me was the Panasonic battery cells (and battery production line) that Tesla sold for years as their own innovation.

lapetitejort 2y ago

The quotes around gigacasting implies that the word is unfamiliar to the reader. The article explains, and implies that the name is made up by Tesla: > Tesla has backed away from an ambitious plan for innovations in gigacasting, its pioneering manufacturing process, > Tesla has been a leader in gigacasting, a cutting-edge technique that uses huge presses with thousands of tons of clamping pressure to die-cast large sections of the car’s underbody. On a typical vehicle, the underbody can consist of hundreds of individual parts.

pacificmint 2y ago

The idea is to cast much larger pieces than before. Traditionally it might have been dozens of pieces. Tesla is currently doing the underbody in only three pieces, and they were trying to cast it as a single piece. Does that warrant a new word? I don’t know. But there is an innovation here in how it is manufactured.

technofiend 2y ago
It's my understanding this a way to cut manufacturing costs. One wonders what impact it has on repair costs, though. Tesla isn't going to replace the entire underbody whether it's a single piece or three pieces, are they? So how easy are these pieces to repair?