Die Casting or Sheet Metal Forming: A Comparison of Car Body Manufacturing in Times of the "Giga Press"

Abstract

Die casting as an alternative for sheet metal structures in car body design has been around for a few years. While the application of die cast body components by legacy automakers is rather limited, especially for mass market products, Tesla bases their mass-produced cars on a few extremely big die cast structure parts. The impact of this strategy makes it necessary to rethink car body manufacturing. In this study, published information and expert interviews are used to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the competing philosophies of car body manufacturing