Several months after the massive Giga Press machines were installed at the factory in Fremont, Tesla has begun delivering Model Y’s with a single-piece cast aluminum ear underbody.
The discovery was made by Tony Pham, creator of the Quick Bandit license plate mount (save 10% by using the coupon code drivetesla), who posted an image of a stripped down Model Y with a 97XXX VIN that was delivered two days before Christmas.
Model Y single piece rear casting!
VIN 97k, delivered 12/23/2020. Thanks @TeslaFrunk for the rear kick sensor installation pic.twitter.com/jkIGwX265v— Tony Pham – “Quick Bandit” license plate mount (@TonyTesla4Life) January 10, 2021
While you might not notice it at first, when you compare it to an image of the previous rear underbody you begin to see some differences.
We got our first look at one thanks to Sandy Munro in his teardown of an early production Model Y. In that video we can the 2 pieces are joined together by a bracket in middle the cast pieces of aluminum. We can also see where it connects to the braces at the rear of vehicle, one on each side.
None are of these are visible in the image above.
This is a massive improvement from when the Model 3. When it was first released, it had more than 70 different pieces.
As Tesla has gone down from a 2-piece to a single piece rear underbody, their next goal is to make a “unibody” casting design. This would see most of the underbody made from a single piece of cast aluminum.
