A New Gigapress
Tesla watchers in Texas have reported that the Gigafactory there has taken delivery of several large packages from Italian manufacturer IDRA - Indicating that this is likely another Gigapress machine.
IDRA have made several of these high-pressure die casting machines for Tesla’s Model Y production lines in Shanghai, Berlin, California, and Texas. These presses work by forcing molten aluminum-alloy into a reusable die-mold, which is kept in a low vacuum.
For the Model Y, these machines create the front and rear body pieces - each out of a single casting.
But those are 6000-ton machines, and last year GigaTexas took delivery of a gigantic 9000 ton press which is intended to be used in the upcoming production of the company’s Cybertuck pickup.
That particular machine had been greatly anticipated by Tesla fans - with IDRA and Tesla itself both talking about it in the lead-up to its shipment to Texas from Genoa, Italy. The Cybertruck is a huge part of Tesla’s upcoming lineup of new and refreshed vehicles - and this monster of a press is reportedly going to be used to cast the largest section of the pickup - the rear box - in a single piece.
So it was understandable that Tesla and IDRA would be excited about getting this machine set up and running - but by comparison this new equipment has flown right under the radar.
Twitter user @greggertruck posted a bill of lading on March 20th - a form which records the details of a shipment. On it, we can see that a large shipment of parts is being delivered to the port of Houston, Texas from Genoa, Italy - and the packages are for Tesla, and from IDRA.
But Greggertruck also uncovered more - a small entry that includes extra details. We can see individual parts which are labelled things like “Injection” and “Tie Bars” - but more importantly we can see the weights - and they’re heavy, some of them weighing over 30 thousand kilograms.
It’s hard to tell if this is all the equipment, or if there’s more to come - but this looks like a second 9000 ton Gigapress.
The biggest clue to that comes from IDRA itself. Back in January, the company showed off another 9000-ton casting machine on their LinkedIn page - the same way they showed off the original big press before they shipped it to Tesla last year.
This video had a caption that read “Another 9000t ready for shipping on its way to Asia!" which definitely threw a lot of us off at the time. Tesla certainly hadn’t made any announcements about a Cybertruck production line in Shanghai - and the only company in the world who currently needed a casting press this big was Tesla.
Given the timing, it would seem that either IDRA was trying to throw us all off the scent for some reason, or plans have changed.
Regardless, a second press for the Cybertruck line makes sense. We know it takes a couple of months to get these big machines working, but the Cybertruck isn’t due to begin production until this summer, and will likely take some time to ramp up.
That being said, we don’t know exactly how fast these larger presses work - given their size it would be reasonable to assume that - at the very least - cleanup between operations would certainly take longer than the comparatively smaller 6000-ton machines used in the Model Y lines.
And once a vehicle starts production, Tesla usually aims for a manufacturing rate of about 250,000 units per year - or “volume production”. The Cybertruck isn’t projected to reach that rate until 2024 - but this definitely fits the timeline for ramping up production.
Getting a second 9000 ton press now would save a lot of time down the road.