Ford casts 5,000 ‘unicastings’ for Fathom EV truck in Tesla-style shift — SkimNews
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- Ford has produced more than 5,000 large aluminum 'unicastings' for its Fathom electric pickup, each replacing 73 parts in the front or rear structure ahead of a 2027 launch
- Ford is using a new assembly process at its Louisville plant that splits production into three branches—front, rear, and battery pack—aiming for up to 40% faster assembly
- Tesla pioneered the gigacasting method in 2020 with the Model Y, replacing 70 parts with one rear casting and eliminating about 300 robots from production
- Xpeng, Volvo, Xiaomi, and Honda have adopted large-scale castings, with Xpeng merging over 300 parts and Xiaomi combining 72 into single underbody castings
- Stellantis, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Hyundai are not pursuing full gigacasting, with Hyundai delaying its 'Hypercasting' plan by two years
- Ford conducts rigorous quality checks on each casting—including X-rays, dimensional scans, and tensile tests—before shipping to Louisville for prototyping
Why it matters: Ford’s adoption of Tesla-style unicastings cuts part count and assembly time, directly targeting lower production costs for a $28,350 EV—making affordable electric trucks viable, but raising repairability concerns that insurers and rivals like BMW have cited as a barrier.
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