• Tesla's Car Repair Accounts for 70% of the Cost of the Car

Tesla's Car Repair Accounts for 70% of the Cost of the Car

In 2022, a Tesla owner in Wuxi accidentally hit the rear of a Model Y against a wall when reversing, causing serious damage to the right rear and the top of the rear shock absorber tower. Therefore, the car owner contacted the insurance company for an assessment. After the assessment, the repair cost was as high as 200,000 RMB. When Model Y was purchased, it cost only 280,000 RMB (The current price was 316,900 RMB). The maintenance cost accounts for 70% of the car's price. The question is, why is the cost of repairing so high? The reason is that Tesla uses a body made of one-piece die-cast aluminum alloy. Once the car frame is damaged, it means that it cannot be repaired. Once the whole aluminum alloy car body is damaged, it must be repaired again, instead of just repairing the damaged position. After the damage, the one-piece die-cast car body can only be replaced as a whole. Although Tesla's aluminum is lighter, it will reduce the weight of the car body and increase the endurance of the vehicle. From the manufacturing point of view, the integral body improves the production efficiency of the vehicle and reduces the cost, but this accident has fully exposed its shortcomings. The side effects are obvious.
 
From a maintenance point of view, this technology is a minefield for car owners.
This kind of great maintenance fee instantly broke the car owner's heart. It is better to just scrap it if it costs 200,000 RMB for repairs. No matter how good the integrated stamping technology is, it seems to be of no practical use to car owners. Even if it is insured, what comes next is the concern about insurance costs. No insurance company has differentiated premiums for models with integral die-cast bodies.
 
From the perspective of car companies, not everyone thinks this technology is very good. For example, the CEO of BMW named Zipse once said that he would not follow Tesla's so-called "Gigacasting" large-scale one-piece cast aluminum parts, because they believed that doing so will not bring economic benefits. The director of the Engineering Department of the Technical University of Munich in Germany also said that this technology is not as magical in terms of cost efficiency as advertised by car companies.
 
There is another question. If you buy a vehicle with such technology, are you prepared and willing to pay high maintenance fees, or bear higher insurance premiums? In addition, this technology may be a good way for car companies to reduce costs, but only car companies manufacturing cars with a large quantities can introduce large-scale integrated die-cast components regardless of risks.  If a large scale cannot be realized, the use of one-piece die casting will inevitably require a single vehicle to have more equipment investment. Either raise the final price, or reduce the profit margin.
 
The development of technology is dynamic, and there is no such thing as being the same. It is gradually improved and changed step by step. When the interests of users are violated, it means that this new technology needs to be perfected, or there is a better solution. For example, we used to think that the Internet will change the world. The world is silently changing the Internet. We believe that online stores will replace physical stores, but more physical stores are rising. Nothing is rigid, so we must not cut a mark on the side of a boat to indicate the place where one's sword has dropped into the river. Any one-way evolution has never been the real performance of this world.


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About the author
Teresa
Teresa
With in-depth knowledge of metallurgy, material science, and manufacturing techniques, Teresa focuses on producing and optimizing high-quality metal components for industries such as automotive, aerospace, and transportation. Her work involves researching and documenting advancements in die-casting technology, and she contributes to academic journals, industry publications, technical manuals, and training materials to educate and inform professionals in the field.

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