Tesla commissioned a 9,000-ton die casting press from Italy-based specialists at IDRA Group, the only company that took up the challenge to try to create such a mammoth piece of equipment. Now the company say sit has completed assembly and testing of this gargantuan press and it reportedly has already arrived in the United States.
The press is truly spectacular to see such a big piece of machinery in action, especially since it has massive visible moving parts. IDRA posted a video announcing the completion of this particular press and notes that “this innovation revolutionizes the manufacturing of the car body structure, reducing substantially assembly time and costs... IDRA was the first company to receive production orders for 9.000 ton machines that can be used for SUV and small truck markets.”
It is believed that this particular 9,000-ton press will be used to create Tesla Cybertruck frames by die-casting aluminum and this seems to be confirmed by IDRA itself as per the YouTube video description excerpt added above that mentions light trucks. IDRA has already supplied Tesla with Giga Presses, which is now in operation and is able to create an entire Model Y frame from just two separate stampings, far reducing the number of individual parts needed.
For reference, just the rear part of a Model Y frame was made out of 70 separate pieces before the the introduction of the Giga Press, and now that has been reduced to 1. Apparently, this allowed Tesla to eliminate some 300 robots that helped put all those 70 parts together, thus speeding up the car building process, while also reducing complexity and manufacturing cost.
It is speculated that the Cybertruck will be made up of three large structural components: the rear section, the bed and the frontal crash structure. According to its initial estimations, Tesla was looking to start building the Cybertruck in 2021, but plans have changed and it has now moved its production start to early 2023.
