Elon Musk Says Refreshed Tesla Model Y ‘Will Be Most Advanced With 2/3 Of Body Cast’
Tesla is currently in the final stages of bringing a refreshed Model Y to production. The vehicle when it begins production is expected to incorporate Tesla’s newest advancements announced at the company's Battery Day event.
In a previous article based on Elon Musk’s words, we estimate the new Model Y will have a 475-mile range.
These include the newest and larger 4680 batteries with a tabless design. 4680 batteries, so named because of their dimension, 46cm by 80cm, are significantly more energy-dense and cheaper to produce.
Their cost advantage is not only limited to the cheaper raw material they use but they also require a smaller footprint factory and fewer steps to assemble into a cell.
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On top of this, the vehicle is also expected to have a structural battery pack. According to Tesla’s Battery Day demonstration, structural battery packs, unlike regular battery packs which are carried by the body of the car, can be incorporated as weight-bearing components in the chassis.
This allows Tesla to decrease the car’s mass at the same time it improves the vehicle’s stiffness and handling. An important first step to enable a structural battery pack is the ability to build the front and the rear of the vehicle from a single cast part.
Single piece casting is necessary because the batteries are weight-bearing and unless the weight of the vehicle is linearly dispersed, few batteries could be under immense pressure possibly causing damage to the cells.
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Tesla to build the front and rear chassis from a single part utilizes a Giga Press. This is a gigantic machine that takes liquid aluminum and outputs the entire front or rear chassis as a single part.
Currently, Tesla utilizes several Giga Presses at the company’s Fremont California and Shanghai plants. The use of this equipment has allowed Tesla to decrease parts in the rear of the vehicle from 70 to 1.
However, Tesla only uses the gigantic single cast part in the rear of the current Model Y. This means Tesla still needs front casting to enable a structural battery pack.
And now Elon Musk asked if all Tesla models will eventually have their own casting machine to press full chassis, Musk answered saying “all models do make use of aluminum casting, but new Y will be most advanced with 2/3 of body cast.”
All models do make use of aluminum casting, but new Y will be most advanced with 2/3 of body cast.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 14, 2021
This confirms Tesla will at least be using front and rear casting for the new Model Y. At the company’s recent earnings call, Musk had hinted Tesla might be forced to roll back some of the company’s most ambitious plans for the new Model Y.
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Speaking at the earnings call Musk said Tesla might not necessarily use the 4680 cells in the new Model Y. At the time Elon stated that Tesla has already devised an alternative plan to produce the new Model Y with the current 2170 cells.
It’s nice to hear at least the plan to use front and rear casting in the Model Y will not change.
We will keep you updated if Tesla releases more information regarding the issue. Make sure to visit our site torquenews.com/Tesla regularly to get the latest update.
So what do you think? What kind of improvements are you expecting from
For more information check out: Tesla Announces 2021 Annual Shareholder Meeting Also, see Elon Musk Announces Giga Berlin County Fair and Tour
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.