Why did they make it with steel and not aluminium?

trutolife27

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Aluminum ages more like wine than steel does. Aluminum oxide is stronger/harder than aluminum. Iron oxide (rust) is much weaker than steel. As Tru said, stamping 3 month old aluminum coil will produce cracked panels. It doesn't want to flow anymore. Too hard.

Your 5 year old truck body is actually stronger than your new truck body...
Yep once the body parts are stamped they have a barcode on them. Has a date to be built by. Once they get too old the aluminum gets stronger and the rivets will not go through.
The big rolls of aluminum have to be stamped at the right time. It's really a time-sensitive process with aluminum.

For the holiday shut down, all parts will be used and not sitting. As far as paint, it has been amazing for years like Ron said. The thing that most people don't know how important and strong the structural adhesive is. Once it goes through the bake tunnel it's unreal how strong it is.
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Blinkin

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Using all aluminum on really large vehicles like F150 and Expedition gives you a bigger weight reduction because there's more body weight to reduce. Additionally, some of the saved body weight in those vehicles was "reinvested" into the frame to beef up towing and hauling capacity. Mach E is a mid size vehicle, and it sits on a skateboard of batteries that already gives a low center of gravity and won't be officially rated for towing either way.

I also think lower volume plays a part. Mach E is going to be a big seller (especially after the first year), but it'll probably never hit F150/Expedition economies of scale.

Also note, BEV F150 will be aluminum just like the ICE and HEV variants.
 

ClaudeMach-E

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Yep once the body parts are stamped they have a barcode on them. Has a date to be built by. Once they get too old the aluminum gets stronger and the rivets will not go through.
The big rolls of aluminum have to be stamped at the right time. It's really a time-sensitive process with aluminum.

For the holiday shut down, all parts will be used and not sitting. As far as paint, it has been amazing for years like Ron said. The thing that most people don't know how important and strong the structural adhesive is. Once it goes through the bake tunnel it's unreal how strong it is.
Is that the reason why Tesla can tow and not the MME?
 
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Vs 150 they won’t be selling the 150 outside the US and then mme will be worldwide sales?
 

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Aluminum is more costly than steel, and harder to weld, so repair isn't as easy. It doesn't bend back to the same shape as easily if you try to remove dents, such as with paintless dent removal. The trucks are built as body on frame, so the parts can be separated for easier repair. Passenger vehicles like the Mach E are unibody, a single welded piece, so you can't repair by just changing out pieces.
 


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The thing with aluminum builds is you can't have too many different design lines. The more you try to make it flashy the more it has chances to have stress cracks.

The repair also is massive. A lot of the parts can't be prepared and have to be scrapped. Then the cost goes way up. Seen too much of this first hand.
That must be why only the fenders and hood are aluminum.
 

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Using all aluminum on really large vehicles like F150 and Expedition gives you a bigger weight reduction because there's more body weight to reduce. Additionally, some of the saved body weight in those vehicles was "reinvested" into the frame to beef up towing and hauling capacity. Mach E is a mid size vehicle, and it sits on a skateboard of batteries that already gives a low center of gravity and won't be officially rated for towing either way.

I also think lower volume plays a part. Mach E is going to be a big seller (especially after the first year), but it'll probably never hit F150/Expedition economies of scale.

Also note, BEV F150 will be aluminum just like the ICE and HEV variants.
"won't be officially rated for towing either way" is incorrect...in Europe, Mach-E's have a tow rating...why don't we???
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