ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Settled On Silver

Tesla has changed its standard colour choices for the Model 3 and Model Y from Pearl White Multi-Coat to Midnight Silver. Customers who want a Pearl White Multi-Coat vehicle will have to shell out $1,300 for the colour. It’s been a back-and-forth with Model 3 and Model Y standard colours in recent years. In late 2021, CEO Elon Musk made Midnight Silver Metallic one of the standard colour choices, but only in the United States. Soon after, the brand reverted to white as the standard hue and attached a premium to the Midnight Silver paint shade. Now, more than a year later, Tesla has gone back to offering the steely shade as its default colour. The brand did not give any reason as to why, and no similar changes were made to the Model X or Model S ranges.

Hot Off The Press

Toyota is getting in on the gigacasting game at its assembly plants. Tesla was the first automaker to bring the term “gigacasting” to the electric car enthusiast’s lexicon in 2018, when it began using the massive Italian-built giga press machines to create lower cost, lighter weight frame casts for Tesla vehicles. The gigacasting process, alternatively referred to as megacasting or megapressing, involves an injection of at least 80 kg of molten aluminium into a mould where it is formed into a part, released and then quickly cooled. While Toyota represents the most recent major OEM to embrace the innovative lightweighting method, numerous other companies like General Motors, Hyundai, Volvo/Polestar, as well as Chinese EV-maker, Zeekr, have entered the fray.