Volvo Joins the Gigacasting Revolution

Per Dan Mihalascu from InsideEVs.com - A growing chorus of automakers and car industry experts will tell you that giga presses – the high-pressure die-casting machines for car body assembly pioneered by Tesla – will be the key to cranking out future electric vehicles cheaply and in huge volumes. Now, it looks like Volvo is the latest automaker to join the gigacasting revolution.

Last month, we learned that Ford and Hyundai had bought giga presses from Italy's IDRA Group, the same company that supplies Tesla with massive die-casting machines that churn out large pieces of vehicle underbodies for the Model Y and Cybertruck. The report from Reuters noted that there was a third automaker that bought two giga presses. While nothing was confirmed at the time, unnamed sources told the news agency that the company could be Volvo Cars. It turns out the report was accurate because IDRA Group confirmed the transaction on its LinkedIn page yesterday. The company said it was awarded a contract by Volvo Cars for two 9,000-ton giga press machines – the largest model IDRA makes – that will be installed at the automaker's future electric vehicle factory in Košice, Slovakia.

"These state-of-the-art machines are set to revolutionize the automotive manufacturing industry and position the brand's new plant in Košice as a strategic hub for Giga Casting," IDRA said in a statement.

The company noted that the 9,000-ton aluminum casting machines, which are said to be among the largest die-casting machines in Europe, should represent "a remarkable leap forward in automotive manufacturing technology."

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