Other EV makers are reevaluating their manufacturing processes due to Tesla's success with gigacasting.

While improving battery technology is often the focus, automakers are also investing heavily in changing the production process of the rest of the car to make EVs cheaper and more profitable.

One such method is megacasting, or gigacasting, as calls it.

Elon Musk's American automaker has been recognized for advancing die-casting, which involves pouring materials like molten aluminum into large molds to create parts, according to Shea Burns, a partner at research firm AlixPartners.

Tesla said the process works to reduce weight and dramatically improve manufacturing efficiency.

The early Model 3 chassis had more than 70 parts in both the front and rear sections, while the Model Y now has only one part each in those sections.

""In the future, all cars will be made with a lighter, cheaper, and better noise and vibration reduction body, which is much easier to manufacture," Musk stated after Tesla released its second-quarter earnings of 2023."

Nissan, Hyundai, and other automakers have announced their own investments.

Erik Severinson, chief product and strategy officer for Volvo, stated that he sees numerous opportunities in the future. By reducing weight, customers will experience more range, and replacing one large megacast with many stamped parts will decrease labor and increase production, he added.

To create an efficient electrified car, you must increase the amount of aluminum, decrease the number of parts, and simplify the design, according to him.

While megacasting is an exciting technology, it faces technical challenges, according to those who study the field. Die-casting, on the other hand, carries the risk of voids or air bubbles occurring, which could pose structural risks, critics argue.

Burns stated that for stamped steel, the scrap rate is 10 out of every 1,000, while for other materials, the rate is 15 out of every 1,000 pieces that need to be thrown out.

The repair or replacement of large megacasts may be more difficult and expensive due to their massive size.

In low-speed crashes that occur at about 10 miles per hour, "you have a deformation of these big parts," said Wolfram Volk, a professor of metal forming and casting at the Technical University of Munich in Germany. "And currently the car is beyond repair."

Volk stated that he has conversed with German luxury car brands such as and , who have thus far avoided the technique.

Tesla has argued that castings are easier to repair. During the second-quarter 2023 earnings call, Tesla's vice president of engineering, Lars Moravy, stated that replacing a specific cast part on a Tesla car, a rear rail, was 10 times cheaper and three times faster than a comparable stamped part.

Repairing a casted rear floor is a solvable challenge, according to Severinson. While it may not be an easy operation, it is definitely doable.

Tesla has reportedly abandoned its plan to manufacture the entire underbody of its vehicles in one piece, according to Burns and Volk. This could indicate that the company has reached technical limitations. The underbodies of the Model 3 and Model Y are currently cast in three pieces.

"It's a big step forward in casting technology," Volk said. "However, no one knows if the promises will be met or if obstacles will hinder development."

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