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Well-written statement! As you said if your salary isn't keeping up with inflation you're not thinking about buying a new car. And if you need one you buy a cheap used one. Car sales of new smaller vehicles are down. On the other end of the spectrum, you have the luxury vehicles. You buy your S-class or Porsche no matter how the economy is there is the money to buy these vehicles. Time will tell what the consumers buy. And will the car be Chinese? What is your prediction?

@@aluminiumtogold My bet is that if the industry in Europe does not turn 180º chinese auto makers won't even need to be cheaper to capture a sizable chunk of the market, because nationalism isn't enough when people is pissed about you. They'll ask for subsidies and people will even more pissed about it. I think, to summarize, that people feel like cows being milked and think that the euro auto industry is part of this state of affairs. People is not waiting for new announcements or something. In auto forums the tone is mostly pessimistic, not only about prices but there seems to be a consensus about the industry leaning to rent extraction with features and repairability. In Spain and Italy there are a handful of automotive influencers with huge following where they comment constantly about design (many of them are mechanics/engineers), how customers are being treated by brands (particularly EVs) etc. And they're not happy. And they have influence. I guess something similar is happening in Germany and other countries.

Once upon a time cars, in general, were bought on perceived value, longevity and status. They were very much a personal statement about “what I value”. As personal transport becomes less relevant in ever growing city scapes, where cars can be seen simply as expensive laptops then they will be treated as such. Expendable white goods where often the cheapest will do. Cars used to epitomise freedom, now they look like an expensive way to get from A to B for all but the most affluent.

I'm sorry but I'm unable to follow your thoughts. What do you mean by technological innovation and why is it hold back?

Thank you so much for the amazing feedback 👍

We’re talking about import taxes. These taxes don't apply when you're producing within the boarders of the country.

That is great to hear; thank you for your comment!

It has actually already started. Byd, Nio, catl are building their production sites in Hungary

We're not saying it is easy! We say it is easier! Building an internal combustion engine is way more complex than building an electric motor. Of course it has it's own challenges but you do not need to allign the tolerances from 100 suppliers

Because the German Auto manufacturers get 50% of their sales and profits from China #1 car market. Without China, German Auto manufacturers go bankrupt. It doesn't work the other way.

Please provide info on where the Chinese are taxing Euro cars at 200 or 300%. I could only find a 15% tariff for gas-emission vehicles regardless of origin.

Or say goodbye to German Auto in any trade war

​@@nickh9108 The guy is talking rot. VW, BMW and Mercedes are made in China and enjoy hardly any tariff. Ford cars too.

Is that that for all cars? I know the cybertruck uses a form of POE

That is another way of saying it was never up to date

Glück auf!

Interesting, thank you for taking the time to comment. Especially, when you made that announcement after 50 seconds😉

That is a great question! But it is not possible. The reason is the position of aluminium in the electrochemical voltage series. It is the second lowest after magnesium. Therefore it is not extractable with this or similar methods. Once a impurity is in the aluminium it stays there.

Yes, it is a snippet from the full Gold Nugget.

When the whole car is designed in CAD, tolerances for production variations have to be added. These overall tolerances are broken down for each part. Some areas have tighter tolerances, especially where other parts are connected. As Philipp pointed out, many try to get away without a straightening unit. For these Gigacastings even gravity causes deformation. So, after straightening the part, it needs to be supported until it is mounted into the car. The assembly gives the overall stiffness of the car, and that is exceptionally good for large castings.

The go-to alloy depends on the casting process. For sand and die casting an AlSi7 is the standard alloy. In High-Pressure Die Casting (HPDC) it is the alloy range between AlSi10 to AlSi12. The solidification behaviour is different. AlSi7 has a larger solidification range which is needed for gravity-fed castings. In HPDC a smaller range is better for the process as the plunger built up way more metal pressure to compensate for the shrinkage. Silicon expands its volume during the solidification process. This reduceses the shrinkage of Al which is at 6.6%. However, the microstructure of the silicon is needle-shaped. Therefore, a heat treatment is required for high silicon alloys to allow for a high elongation which is needed for the crash performance.

The simplicity of the recycling process with a gigacasting makes it easy to recycle it without contamination with other alloys. HPDC castings are already highly precise in their dimensions. But there is distortion in the casting. That causes issues in the car production. But it is such a wide topic that we dedicated a whole Gold Nugget to the distortion and the coping mechanisms. It is actually our next gold nugget

Thank you for that thoughtful comment! When three people who are all within the same industry speak about an interesting topic it gets highly specific. Explaining things during the interview disrupts the flow of speech. What would you think about a Gold Nugget explaining all about the casting process?

Thank you for the comment! That is great to hear. What were you most fascinated by?

​@@aluminiumtogold The idea that molten liquid shot die-casting was not the only game in town. That slurry casting may be able to achieve similar finished component mass. The possibility of using other metals opens a whole new world. My imagination jumps immediately to an F-14 wing box, or a cathedral bell. Could a future artillery gun barrel be cast instead of forged? Recent attention has been on magnesium castings for weight and strength benefits. Aerospace and aero engines seem a good fit to blend casting and additive technologies. I'm sure people much smarter than me are thinking hard about multi stage multi alloy castings.

There are so many more casting opportunities than we think about today. High-pressure die Casting allows for functional integration and is most effective in large-volume production. That would rule out the bell and fighter jets. One issue is with casting that you have the solidification and casting defects. If you have an application that cannot allow for a defect, then HPDC is not ideal. Bells would sound strange, and you can imagine the f-14s... There are many magnesium HPDC castings out there. If you have ever driven a Mercedes, the steering column is made of Magnesium. However, using magnesium for structural components is not recommended. Magnesium suffers corrosion if not protected. And you cannot protect it with paint or coating as the surface layer is porous and brittle. But in the interior, they are great to use! They dampen the vibrations of aluminium chassis, so the ride feels smoother. Multi-material casting is state-of-the-art. Most high-end cars have engine brackets, which are HPDC around a grey iron casting. That delivers the freedom of geometry and the dampening effect of the iron. Thousends of cores are cast around into the aluminium. And for the HPDC tools many have 3D printed steel inserts to allow for better and faster cooling.

You can use it for castings with lower requirements. But the quantity of these parts in the car goes down. At the same time total amount of aluminium increases. That has to come from primary sources. Unfortunally, Aluminium sits low on the electrochemical potential series. That means you can only extract elements that are lower on that series. And that is only Magnesium. All the impurities like iron, copper, nickel, zink are higher in the series and therefore not extractable.

The plastic injection molding industry is in that case way ahead. It usually takes a foundry a shift to change a tool. Quick connects and preheating of the tool are not standard. But for a Gigacasting you have to change the tools (several hundred tons of steel) pre-heated and within a minimal time frame.

Nice! Tell us more!

@@aluminiumtogoldit’s top secret (🇺🇸)

As expected😂👍

Thank you for the amazing feedback! What is your Highlight of the Gold Nugget?

thank you for the amazing feedback👍 by what were you most surprised?