(Tobias Lindh/Twitter)
Toronto, Ontario — In its recent Q3 financials release to stakeholders, Tesla announced plans to integrate front castings and structural battery packs to the Model Y; plans that have since been confirmed by DriveTesla Canada, who posted a photo Tuesday of just such a model outside the automaker’s Berlin Gigafactory.
This sighting, made by drone operator and self-described “local observer of Giga Berlin,” Tobias Lindh, confirms that Model Ys with front castings are in the works. As well, the hole in the cabin floor indicates the future placement of structural battery packs in the vehicle’s floor.
Lindh’s drone footage shows the models in question located in the scrap area of the factory, indicating that the company is in the process of testing the design, before the new build officially hits the production line at the end of this year.
According to DriveTesla Canada, this update to the Model Y’s body design will replace more than 170 individual components that were required for a model with only a rear casting.
“Part of the challenge of making such large castings is that all the aluminum needs to be injected into a die in about one-tenth of a blink of an eye, through a single point of entry, without solidifying or distorting,” read an excerpt from Tesla’s Q3 presentation.
As it stands, Tesla’s Texas Gigafactory is the company’s sole facility capable of producing the Model Y with this body structure, which it has been doing since it opened at the beginning of this year.
What will this change to the Model Y’s body mean for the repair process? Does this make the job simpler? Or is it just another change of procedure? Let us know in the comments.
