Home appliance hardware solutions

Die casting technology offers significant advantages in the manufacturing of new energy vehicle components, meeting the demands for lightweighting, high strength, and complex structures. Below are die casting solutions and key points for new energy vehicles:

1. Core Application Areas

Battery system: Battery housings (aluminum alloy die casting, lightweighting + heat dissipation design), battery brackets, and covers.

Electric drive system: Motor housings, inverter housings (requires high thermal conductivity and electromagnetic shielding).

Body structure parts: Shock absorber towers, front and rear longitudinal beams (integrated die casting replacing multi-part welding)

Electronic control system: Charger housings, DC-DC converter housings.

2. Material Selection

Aluminum alloy (mainstream): ADC12, A380 (low cost, good fluidity); high-strength aluminum (such as Al-Si-Mg series) for structural parts.

Magnesium alloy: Lighter (30% lighter than aluminum), but higher cost, used in high-end models (such as seat frames).

Future trend: Heat treatment-free aluminum alloy (such as Silafont-36 used by Tesla), avoiding heat treatment deformation.

3. Process Innovation

Integrated die casting: Tesla Model Y rear underbody uses a 6000T press, reducing parts by 70% and improving production efficiency.

Vacuum die casting: Reduces pores and improves part density (suitable for battery housings and other sealing components).

Ultra-low speed die casting: Used for thick-walled parts (such as motor housings), reducing internal defects.

Semi-solid die casting: High forming accuracy, but high equipment cost, suitable for complex and precise parts.

4. Design Optimization Directions

Thin-walling: Optimizing flow channel design through simulation software to achieve 1.5-2mm thin-wall die casting.

Integrated design: Integrating multiple functional components into a single die-cast part (such as battery housings integrating cooling channels).

Topology optimization: Combining CAE analysis to reduce weight while ensuring strength (such as the hollow design of shock absorber towers).

5. Industry Challenges and Countermeasures

Defect control: Pores, shrinkage problems → Using X-ray detection + process parameter optimization (injection speed, mold temperature control).

Cost pressure: High investment in large die-casting equipment (such as LKM 9000T) → Sharing costs through large-scale production.

Recycling and reuse: Developing recycled aluminum alloy technology to reduce raw material costs (such as CATL's battery housing recycling plan).

6. Typical Cases

Tesla: Integrated die-cast rear underbody, reducing manufacturing costs by 20%.

NIO ET5: Uses high-pressure die-cast aluminum alloy sub-frame, reducing weight by 30%.

BYD: CTB technology (battery housing and body integrated die casting).

7. Future Trends

Large-scale die casting: 12,000T and above presses producing the entire lower body.

Intelligent die casting: AI real-time monitoring of process parameters (such as injection pressure, temperature), improving yield.

Multi-material composite: Aluminum/magnesium hybrid casting or local reinforcement (insert die casting).

Summary

Die-cast components for new energy vehicles need to balance lightweighting, strength, and cost, with integrated die casting and material innovation being the core directions. Companies need to choose processes based on their own production capacity (e.g., traditional die casting is suitable for small and medium-sized parts, while integrated solutions are needed for large structural parts), and at the same time, deploy recycling technologies to meet the requirements of sustainable development.