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Tesla Giga Berlin plans to begin production of the Model Y with a revolutionary structural battery pack by the end of 2022. Vehicles leaving the assembly line in Germany will receive front and rear body castings.

The increase in production at Giga Berlin is proceeding rapidly. Tesla announced in its Q3 earnings report that it reached a production capacity of more than 2,000 Model Ys per week. The factory now has three more months to double production and reach its planned capacity of 5,000 units per week before the end of 2022/beginning of 2023. The company said that it is currently producing Model Y with 2170 battery cells, but it seems that the use of the new 4680 cells is not far off.

From the beginning of 2022, Model Y with 4680 battery cells began to roll off the Giga Texas assembly line. The cars featured front and rear body castings and a structural battery pack with new cells. This was the first time Model Y contained elements that were originally intended for it. Prior to this, only rear body castings were used for production at Giga Shanghai and the Fremont factory.

Body castings are a revolutionary achievement by Tesla. Through the use of one-piece castings, the company has eliminated over 170 individual components that were previously needed to make a front and rear end. The process of forming a single-piece cast is complex and requires that all the aluminum needed for the whole part “be injected into a die in about one-tenth of a blink of an eye, through a single point of entry, without solidifying or distorting.” However, such parts in vehicles provide an improved modular design with a high degree of integration. This increases the coverage area of ​​the anti-collision beam, thereby improving body performance. Collision safety improved by more than 20%. This design will also increase battery life. The overall reduction in weight provides an increase in the range of the car. In addition, this production process is more environmentally friendly and energy efficient. Traditional stamping results in a lot of residual scraps, while Giga Press uses 100% raw material. This results in resource and energy savings in terms of manufacturing and is in line with Tesla's environmental values.

Tesla said in its earnings report for Q3 2022 that it plans to begin production of Model Y using a front and rear cast and structural battery pack at Giga Berlin before the end of this year. This implies that the company will use 4680 battery cells, although it has not disclosed their origin. At the moment, the start of production of the new battery cells at Giga Berlin is receiving conflicting reports. German media's sources say battery production in Germany will not start for a while, as a top priority is given to Giga Texas. On other hand, Tesmanian's sources said that the company has achieved high success on its battery lines at Giga Berlin. Over the next three months, we will be able to get more accurate information about this, possibly confirmed by Tesla, clarifying the situation.

“At Gigafactory Texas, we have begun production of Model Ys since early this year that use front and rear body castings in conjunction with a structural battery pack. Castings of this size have never been mass-produced before in any industry by anyone except Tesla in our Fremont and Shanghai factories. Part of the challenge of making such large castings (thus eliminating >170 separate components) is that all the aluminum needs to be injected into a die in about one-tenth of a blink of an eye, through a single point of entry, without solidifying or distorting. We plan to introduce front castings and structural battery packs at Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg before the end of this year.”

© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.

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