Toyota's engineers were impressed by Tesla's Model Y and have developed a similar gigacasting technology that Toyota plans to use in all of its electric vehicle (EV) technology from 2026. The new innovation could potentially increase productivity by 20%. Toyota also plans to make its factories more efficient to manufacture EVs and has showcased its new gear casting machinery, which can turn what currently takes 86 parts and many hours of work into just three minutes. While Toyota has been slow to adopt EVs, the company aims to build 3.5 million per year by 2030, although this number includes hybrids.
1. Toyota engineers stripped apart a Tesla Model and were impressed by its engineering, leading to the development of a new way of building cars.
2. Toyota built its first gigacast prototype in September 2022 and has been continuously refining it since then.
3. Toyota aims to produce 20% higher productivity than its competitors by using new gear casting technology.
4. Toyota plans to employ this new innovation in all of its EV technology starting from 2026 onwards.
5. Toyota is looking to make the rest of its factories more efficient and minimize the use of conveyor belts by utilizing advanced tech and autonomous robots.
6. Toyota hopes to reduce costs and potentially eliminate thousands of jobs using this new technology.
7. Toyota is slow to adopt EVs, only around 0.2% of its vehicle sales in 2020 were fully electric.
8. Toyota plans to build 3.5 million EVs per year by 2030 but this number includes hybrids.
9. Toyota has admitted that Tesla's engineering, specifically the Model Y using gigapresses, is superior to their own.
10. Toyota has developed its own gigapress and aims to achieve the same portion for a car that takes Tesla only three parts but it currently takes Toyota 86 parts and many hours.
11. Toyota is looking to emulate Tesla's production of the Model Y using larger gigapresses and automated production techniques starting in 2026.