Tesla Supplier IDRA Reveals a Tiny Giga Press for Electric Motor Production

Tesla supplier IDRA is known for building enormous Giga Presses that are used to build the chassis of Tesla vehicles in one piece. However, today, IDRA has revealed a significantly smaller die-casting machine to be used to build electric motor components in one piece.

At present Tesla uses 6000-ton Giga Presses to build the front and rear chassis of the Model Y as single pieces. Using the Giga Press has allowed Tesla to decrease the parts that make up the rear body of the Model Y from 120 to 1.

And going from 120 parts to 1 allows Tesla to eliminate several welding robots from the production line; decrease the factory's footprint; decrease manufacturing time, complexity, and assembly errors.

Having a single-piece rear body as opposed to 120 also makes the Mode Y lighter, stiffer, and simply an overall better product but at a lower price.

This on its own is incredible innovation on Tesla’s part. However, for the company’s upcoming vehicle, Tesla has chosen to take things one step further.

Related News: There's an Uptick in Anti-Tesla Cybertruck Sentiment since Elon Musk Announced Deliveries Will Start in Q3

Tesla and its Italian Giga Press supplier, IDRA, have completed work on an even more powerful 9000-ton Giga Press. And according to Elon Musk the new machine will be used to build the Cybertruck’s body.

After undergoing extensive tests at IDRA’s facility in Italy, the new 9000-ton Giga Press has arrived at Giga Texas and Tesla engineers are currently in the process of installing the machine ahead of the start of Cybertruck production.

However, before we are done digesting this news, IDRA has today unveiled a brand new die-casting machine. This new machine doesn’t have the enormous size of the Giga Presses used to build the Model Y and the Cybertruck.

IDRA’s new die-casting machine rather than building the chassis of vehicles is designed to be used to build parts of an electric motor in one piece. IDRA’s LinkedIn post sharing a picture of a completed machine did not have a lot of information and simply read “future of die casting is not only Giga Press. This machine will produce electric motor rotors.”

IDRA did not specify the new machine is built for Tesla, however, the Tesla red and white color scheme that the new die-casting machine is painted suggests that the “tiny Giga Press” is built for the EV maker.

Tesla commissioning a die-casting machine to build the rotor part of the company’s electric motors will also be in line with the EV maker’s announcements during Investor Day. During the event, Tesla shared that using several breakthroughs and manufacturing improvements the EV maker plans to cut down the cost of the entire drive train on the company’s upcoming vehicle to below $1,000.

Electric motors mainly comprise two components: a stator and a rotor. During the Investor Day presentation, Tesla teased a hairpin style stator which is expected to improve performance and decrease manufacturing complexity and time.

And if Tesla is significantly speeding up stator production it’s only logical that the EV maker also manages the same for the rotor. Currently, building the rotor, although not as time-consuming as hand-winding copper wires of the stator, still requires a few steps.

And if Tesla with this new die-casting machine is able to whittle down rotor production to a single process, then it should allow the EV maker to cut down production time, footprint, and cost, while at the same time producing a better product.

Currently, we don’t have any more information about the new die-casting machine than IDRA shared on LinkedIn, however, we will be sure to keep you posted if we get any more information.

Until then, make sure to visit our site torquenews.com/Tesla regularly for the latest updates.

So what do you think? Excited to see a new application to the Giga Press design? Do you think this machine was produced for Tesla? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Image: Taken From IDRA’s LinkedIn post

For more information check out: Tesla Slightly Increases Model 3/Y Price in an Attempt to Stop Individuals Waiting for Further Price Cuts

Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and The evolution of the EV space on a daily basis for several years. He covers everything about Tesla from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news