Berlin cuts casting cycle to 68s

Tesla said Gigafactory Berlin has cut its rear-body giga-casting cycle to 68 seconds and started producing 4680 battery packs in Germany. (tesla.com) (x.com) A giga-casting machine works like an industrial mold that stamps one large aluminum section instead of welding together many smaller parts. Tesla uses that approach on Model Y body structures to reduce parts, robots, and assembly steps. (tesla.com) (wikipedia.org) The 68-second figure refers to one casting cycle: inject molten metal, form the part, cool it, open the die, and reset for the next shot. Shorter cycles mean each press can turn out more rear underbodies per hour with the same equipment. (x.com) (wikipedia.org) Tesla also said Berlin is adding in-line 3D trim dies on body lines. In practice, that means cast parts can be trimmed and finished inside the production flow instead of being moved to a separate downstream step. (x.com) The battery piece matters because 4680 refers to a larger cylindrical cell format that Tesla has tied to structural battery packs. A structural pack lets the battery do double duty as part of the vehicle’s floor structure, cutting some weight and parts. (electrek.co) (tesla.com) Tesla’s Berlin site says it is Europe’s first Tesla factory to make cells in-house alongside vehicles, and the company has been expanding battery work there. In December 2025, Berlin manufacturing chief André Thierig said Tesla would invest close to €100 million to reach 8 gigawatt-hours of cell production at the site by 2027. (tesla.com) (notateslaapp.com) The timing lines up with a broader push to lift output in Germany. Thierig said on April 23 that Berlin would raise Model Y production by 20% starting in July, hire about 1,000 workers beginning in May, and convert 500 temporary workers to permanent roles. (electrek.co) That expansion starts from a plant still running below its stated ceiling. Tesla lists Berlin’s installed capacity at more than 375,000 Model Y vehicles a year, while Electrek calculated the factory’s 61,000-unit first quarter was about 65% of quarterly capacity. (electrek.co) (ir.tesla.com) So the Berlin update is less about a single factory trick than about squeezing more cars out of the same footprint. Faster castings, in-line trimming, and local 4680 pack assembly all cut handoffs inside the plant before Tesla tries to push Model Y output higher this summer. (x.com) (electrek.co)