We reported about them Tesla Model Y Mega Castings for quite some time. Little did we know this was part of a much larger plan: Tesla intends to incorporate the battery into the body structure of its future cars, and the solid castings are a crucial part of that idea.
Elon Musk said Tesla developed a special alloy to make this possible. This new aluminum alloy had to be very castable, high strength, and non-retractable, which caused large castings to deform. Tesla had to avoid that at all costs.
What Tesla is now throwing in Fremont are the front and rear sections of its cars. What about the middle, right? Well, that is complemented by what we now call the battery. Given that it will be part of the vehicle's structure and therefore not interchangeable like current batteries are, Tesla will likely have to label it as something else. Musk already called it a "structure battery".
This new structural battery case not only provides the car with the energy it needs, it also ensures its rigidity and safety. Oddly enough, this is also inspired by airplanes. If you recall, the Tesla Cybertruck will have a stressed skin texture due to the manufacture of airplanes.
As in airplanes, this helps to save mass in the car. A lighter car can go further and be more energy efficient. Musk also said the resulting structure is much stiffer than in any current car, even if it were a convertible. This potentially means more safety for the vehicle occupants and better dynamic behavior.
According to Musk, this will allow the car to achieve a 10 percent reduction in weight, an increase in range of up to 14 percent and 370 fewer parts, which means that manufacturing and production costs are much lower than what Tesla has today.
If that's impressive, there is a consequence that needs to be addressed. Replacing old or broken batteries is practically impossible. When the batteries are part of the structure of the car, they will either last as long as the car itself, or if something gets acidic with them, you will have to get rid of the vehicle entirely. A million mile battery would likely solve this problem, but no one has talked about this possibility for the 4680 cells yet. We hope they will by the end of the presentation.
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