Tesla is reinventing carmaking with a quiet breakthrough, reports Reuters:
Tesla has combined a series of innovations to make a technological breakthrough that could transform the way it makes electric vehicles and help Elon Musk achieve his aim of halving production costs…The company pioneered the use of huge presses with 6,000 to 9,000 tons of clamping pressure to mold the front and rear structures of its Model Y in a “gigacasting” process that slashed production costs and left rivals scrambling to catch up.
In a bid to extend its lead, Tesla is closing in on an innovation that would allow it to die cast nearly all the complex underbody of an EV in one piece, rather than about 400 parts in a conventional car, the people said.
The know-how is core to Tesla’s “unboxed” manufacturing strategy unveiled by Chief Executive Musk in March, a linchpin of his plan to churn out tens of millions of cheaper EVs in the coming decade, and still make a profit, the sources said. While Tesla has said its unboxed model involves producing large sub-assemblies of a car at the same time and then snapping them together, the size and make-up of the modular blocks is still the subject of speculation.
Terry Woychowski, president of U.S. engineering company Caresoft Global, said if Tesla managed to gigacast most of the underbody of an EV, it would further disrupt the way cars are designed and manufactured. “It is an enabler on steroids. It has a huge implication for the industry, but it’s a very challenging task,” said Woychowski, who worked for U.S. automaker GM (GM.N) for more than three decades. “Castings are very hard to do, especially the bigger and the more complicated.”
Two of the sources said Tesla’s previously unreported new design and manufacturing techniques meant the company could develop a car from the ground up in 18 to 24 months, while most rivals can currently take anywhere from three to four years.
The five people said a single large frame – combining the front and rear sections with the middle underbody where the battery is housed – could be used in Tesla’s small EV which it aims to launch with a price tag of $25,000 by the middle of the decade.
Tesla may face discrimination from the Biden administration that undermines its ability to sell its cars. The centerpiece of Joe Biden’s agenda, the Build Back Better Act, is full of pork and special-interest giveaways — like a provision that gives people $12,000 for buying electric cars — but not if it’s a Tesla.
Build Back Better contains a provision which would give a $7,500 tax rebate to anyone who purchases an electric vehicle, including both all-electric and plug-in hybrids. However, that amount rises by $4,500 if the car was made in a unionized U.S. factory. Teslas, which are made in a non-union factory, don’t qualify for this rebate.
By favoring unionized automakers, this provision gives preferential treatment to the United Auto Workers union (UAW). Last fall, when Biden visited a UAW job training center, he bragged about this provision, saying “I want those jobs here in Michigan”—rather than in states like Tennessee or Kentucky, where fewer autoworkers are UAW members.
In other news, the first fully-electric flying car has been approved for flight by the Federal Aviation Administration, and can now be preordered by customers for about $300,000.
Alef Aeronautics’ flying car was granted a special airworthiness certification by the FAA, allowing it to conduct test flights of the car. The fully electric vehicle has a range of 200 miles on public roads. It can also launch vertically into the air with a flying range of 110 miles. It can fly in any direction. It is compact enough to fit in the typical garage. But it can only seat two people.
The company’s “Model A” car “can fly forward above the obstacles until a desired destination is reached,” the San Mateo-based company says. “The driver and the cabin are stabilized by a unique gimbaled rotating cabin design.”
Alef touts the car’s ability to avoid traffic, fly in any direction while giving a “cinematic 180 plus degree view for safe and enjoyable flight.”
The FAA says it “issued a Special Airworthiness Certificate for the Armada Model Zero aircraft on June 12, 2023. This certificate allows the aircraft to be used for limited purposes, including exhibition, research and development. This is not the first aircraft of its kind for which the FAA has issued a Special Airworthiness Certificate.”
Alef Aeronautics first unveiled the car last October and said it has already taken a “strong” number of preorders from people and businesses.
The FAA is still working on the regulatory framework for the takeoff and landing of electric vehicles, Alef said.
