Tesla has built the first megacast for the Model Y at its Gigafactory Texas, ahead of the start of production of the vehicle with its new structural battery technology.
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At last year's Battery Day , Tesla introduced not only the new 4680 battery, but also a new battery architecture built around the new cell.
Inspired by the aerospace innovation of building airplane wings as fuel tanks instead of building fuel tanks inside the wings, Tesla decided to build a battery that acts as a body structure, connecting the front and rear of the vehicle.
Currently, Tesla makes battery packs by combining cells into modules, which when assembled form a complete battery. This battery is installed on the vehicle platform.
The difference with this new concept is that Tesla will not use modules but will build the entire battery as the structural platform of the vehicle, with the battery cells helping to strengthen the platform as one large unit.
See also: Tesla: Model Y will start at Berlin's Gigafactory
Using its expertise, Tesla can connect a large rear and front body to this structural battery pack.
This new design reduces the number of parts, the overall mass of the battery and therefore allows Tesla to improve the performance and ultimately the range of its electric vehicles.
Earlier this year, the first image of Tesla's new structural battery made with 4680 cells was released.
Now Tesla has begun producing the new megacasting parts, located on each side of the structural battery, to create this new simple three-part vehicle platform.
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The automotive industry has long been manufacturing car parts, but generally limits the size of molds and generally assembles smaller parts.
In recent years, Tesla has pushed the limits of how large die-cast parts can be, to simplify the production process.
The part is to be used in Model Y production at Gigafactory Texas, which is expected to begin by the end of the year.
