Giga press

Giga press is high pressure die casting machine or a metal casting machine by injecting molten metal into a mold at high pressure, produced by the Italian company IDRA, founded in 1946. When Tesla unveiled its Model X electric SUV. At that time, Tesla was facing challenges in terms of manufacturing large and complex vehicle components. The company was primarily relying on traditional manufacturing methods, which involved welding together multiple smaller parts to form the desired component. This process was time-consuming and resulted in lower efficiency. Tesla started looking for alternative solutions and came up with the idea of using a single-piece casting machine. The company began collaborating with a casting supplier, Pace Industries, to develop a machine capable of producing large, structurally sound components.

The Giga press utilizes a high-pressure die casting process to create large, lightweight, and high-strength components. It involves injecting molten metal, typically aluminum, into a pre-designed mold at a high speed and pressure. This allows for the production of complex shapes with superior structural integrity. Overall, the giga press has revolutionized the way large components are manufactured in the electric vehicle sector. It has allowed for faster, more efficient, and cost-effective production, ultimately contributing to the wider adoption of electric vehicles.

The working process of Giga press.

1. Start by applying a thin coating of injection oil to make the finished part easier to remove from the mold.

2. Melt the aluminum alloy that will be soaked in the chassis production in a furnace to reach

the specified temperature. Tesla itself has developed an aluminum alloy formula for use in the Giga press by mixing aluminum. Aluminum and silicone together

3. Use a piston to push a specified volume of molten aluminum alloy into the mold at high speed.

4. After the temperature of the finished casting is reduced to 400 degrees Celsius, the mold is opened. Then there is a robot that removes the chassis and soaks it in a water tank and then enters the quality inspection process.

Therefore, we can conclude that these processes hardly use human labor, but workers will become robots in production, resulting in good-quality products. It can also reduce the time required to produce various parts.

How good is Giga press?

Production speeds are very fast, which allows Tesla to optimize chassis production much faster by casting the chassis in one piece. As a result, production time can be further reduced: just one and a half minutes per piece can produce up to 4,000 cars with improved quality and rigidity. Weight is reduced, allowing the car to travel further. Moreover, the price is lower than before. Although the price of Giga press is quite high. But we can save on production costs by reducing the complicated process of manufacturing a car frame from having to assemble many types of parts to just a few steps by stamping aluminum into the shape of the frame. One big car makes each Tesla electric car much cheaper.

Who benefits from Giga press?

After Tesla proved that the Giga Press machine could actually be used. and is beneficial to the production of car chassis in many aspects There is no doubt that this innovation is catching on with other car brands as well, and the beneficiary will be IDRA, the current manufacturer of this machine.

This article is a part of the class 
“751309 Macro Economic 2” supervised by Asst. Prof. Napon Hongsakulvasu Faculty of Economics, Chiang Mai University

 This article was written by Arnanya Roopngam 641615106