Honda Presents its Megacastings to the World

Honda introduced its Giga Press and megacasting strategy to the media at the automaker's R&D site in Tochigi, Japan. The machine is a Bühler Carat 610 with a Clamping Force of 6,220 t.

Honda’s Megacasting strategy

For its future Fully Electric Vehicles Honda has engineered something called "Intelligent Power Unit" (IPU). This IPU is a lightweight and thin new battery pack architecture which uses a die cast battery tray instead of one made with stamped sheets, reducing the number of components and integrating more parts into one or two pieces.

Honda estimates this platform will reduce costs by 40% at the pack level and reduce the number of parts from 60 to just 5.

In Ohio, USA, Honda is renovating the Anna engine plant to accomodate six Carat 610, manufactured by BühlerPrince in Michigan. The renovation of the Honda engine plant into a megacasting plant is part of a massive investment from Honda to build a new EV hub in the United States. Other investments include EV assembly lines and a battery cells manufacturing facility in partnership with LG Chem.

The six Giga Presses in Ohio will produce battery tray halves. The dimension of the parts will vary depending on the size of the vehicle and the two halves will be joined together using Friction Stir Welding (FSW). All the machines should be installed by the end of 2025 and be ready for mass production in 2026.

In China, Honda has created a new brand called "Ye". Ye will adopt this IPU as well but in an even more brazen manner as they'll use a 12,000 tons Giga Press and cast the entire battery tray in one piece.

So far Guangdong Hongtu is the only supplier with a 12,000 tons Giga Press running.

The same supplier showed one of these battery trays at the Shanghai Expo, it weighs 51kg.

What about Underbody Gigacastings?

Honda announced that they are planning to use Front (FUB) and Rear Underbody (RUB) Gigacastings on their future vehicles but not until 2028. Honda will invest in a new manufacturing facility in Alliston, Ontario, with a capacity of 240,000 EVs per year in 2028. These vehicles will adopt FUB and RUB single piece castings.

More in the gallery below, including a video.

Millison Inaugurates New Gigacasting Plant

On October 9, the commissioning ceremony of the first phase of the Millison Technology Project was held in Maanshan City, Anhui Province.

This plant mainly undertakes the research and development and manufacturing of components for the 5G industry, Ultra-Large Integrated Body Structural parts and energy storage components.

The construction of the project will be carried out in three stages and will introduce a variety of super large die-casting islands, including 8,800 ton, and a mold manufacturing center.

About Millison

On June 23rd 2023, Millison successfully trial-produced the largest magnesium automotive die-casting components ever. The trial production included a rear underbody casting and a battery box cover. Both products have a projected area exceeding 2.2 square meters. They have a wide arrange of Die casting machines, including 7,000 t and 8,800 t.

Yizumi Expands in the United States

On October 10th Yizumi held a grand ceremony and open house for the new facility expansion in Ohio.

General Manager of Yizumi, said that the total investment scale of this expansion project exceeds $11 million, which is one of Yizumi's largest investment projects in North America and even in the world in recent years. This project will significantly enhance Yizumi's position in the North American and global markets, and provide strong support for the strategic goal of "becoming a world-class enterprise in the field of molding equipment." In the future, the company is expected to further accelerate its response to the southern US market and consider launching a second construction project to continue to promote Yizumi's expansion in the global market.

In 2011, Yizumi acquired the American machinery manufacturer HPM and its entire intellectual property rights. HPM products include injection molding machines, die-casting machines and related automation solutions.

IDRA is Assembling a New 9,000 t Giga Press

On October 10th Idra announced that they welcomed a group of 40 mechanical engineering students from Aarhus university, Denmark. “As part of their study trip to hashtag#Milan, they were interested in learning more about the industrial and technological developments in the aluminum industry.”

One of the pictures released by Idra showed the students in front of the fixed platen of a 9,000 t Giga Press.

A day later Riccardo Ferrario, former IDRA GM, announced that G.Engineering will hold an event in Travagliato, where Idra’s factory is located and a 9,000 ton Giga Press will be in final testing.

Xiaomi Update

The second phase of the Xiaomi automotive factory's body workshop in Beijing has been topped off.

In late July, Xiaomi successfully acquired the land for 842 million yuan. It took only 2 months to complete the structural topping-off of the workshop. Xiaomi stated that the factory's future annual output value would not be less than 16 billion yuan.

Moreover, with the second phase of the factory going into production next year, Xiaomi Automobile's production capacity will be further enhanced. Source: ThinkerCar

This Week’s Gallery

Tesla Gigafactory Texas by Joe Tegtmeyer

Honda. See the video here

Bühler released this week a picture of the first Made in America Giga Press. It was manufactured at the very beginning of 2024 and delivered many months ago.