These rejects would be why Tesla has recently halted production at its German plant. The official and unspecific excuse was to make adjustments and improve output. According to EFahrer, that did not go well.
Even after the casting machines were adjusted, the factory allegedly still loses 50% of the castings it makes. They can obviously be recycled, but we are not sure how much that costs nor if it is an easy process. The alloy Tesla uses does not need heat treatment: the castings can be extracted from the press as soon as they cool down a bit, as you can see in the video Tesla shared on Twitter.
In the text, the EV maker says that its “huge casting machines” enable it to make “full-size cars the same way toy cars are made.” That is neither entirely true nor something Tesla should brag about: most die-cast models have poor quality control. It is precisely due to not meeting the necessary standards that there are so many casting rejects at Giga Grünheide. If the EFahrer report is correct, any production increase should make it get a lot bigger, with 50% of the cast parts being discarded.
Our huge casting machines enable us to make full-size cars the same way toy cars are made ?? pic.twitter.com/pWvW5Ovufo
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 25, 2022
This was a very popular tweet, so as it is Friday once again I thought I'd rub it in a little more with Castings in the Dirt Redux, shot yesterday morning. Fanboi drone pilot says "I love this mess" and I know you will too. #FremontFollies $tslaQ $TSLA https://t.co/V1u1xh3dXD pic.twitter.com/e2LrQkoXJ5
— Machine Planet (@Paul91701736) July 29, 2022