How Tesla plans to save $10 billion every year by using less copper

How Tesla plans to save $10 billion every year by using less copper
-

👇👇 The Electric Viking store/merchandise 👇👇

Size guide and other help for the store 👇

Join as a member in The Electric Viking YouTube►

Members-only videos (see videos before anyone else)►

👇👇 Please donate here for Shanna (Viking's wife) if you can 👇👇

See what happened to Shanna:

Get a 10% discount on tickets to Fully Charged Live in 2023 (and meet me in person). 10% discount code for London and San Diego will be released closer to the event dates.

The Electric Viking on other platforms:

👇 See more about me 👇

👇 My Bali trip 👇

👇 Video about My Skateboard 👇

👇 Subscribe to my kids channel 👇

See more videos about Tesla:
Tesla’s takes another US state to court for blocking its sales model & wins

Hyundai's CEO says “NO Knee-Jerk Reaction” to Tesla’s BAD price cuts

Tesla brand loyalty grows as auto industry major brands lose more ground

Tesla begin paid advertising to let people know how affordable Tesla EV's are

It's going to be hard to make the Cybertruck cost affordable - Musk

Tesla Model Y destroys RAV4 as Toyota loses market share & buyers look elsewhere

Latest Tesla Model 3 rumour suggests production of new model imminent

Tesla reveal next car with outline image, say it’s being built NOW

Auto industry experts debate Tesla's revolutionary new manufacturing system.

Tesla Cybertrucks' MASSIVE one-piece castings spotted at Giga Texas

Tesla applies first principles CHESS to Europe car market take over plans

Tesla asks social media what it should improve - gets 23,000 responses

How Mercedes plans to challenge Tesla's efficiency using Formula 1 tech

These 2 companies have scary power over who is on Tesla's board

Tesla's Giga Texas MegaBattery will make millions in FREE money

Tesla stock jumps 5.5%, snaps longest weekly losing streak since 2021

Elon Musk praises Ford - says its electric car strategy is smart

Tesla sells 75,842 electric cars made in China in April; increases prices

Tesla's NEW track pack upgrades will help convert more muscle car fans

Tesla Model 3 & Model Y prices rise in Australia, but 2 models cheaper

#teslaplans #48Varchitecture #teslaevs

This channel may use some copyrighted materials without specific authorization of the owner; but content used here falls under the “Fair Use” Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976.

Allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

Contact us for any copyright issues. If you want a credit of any footage we are using, please let us know.

[lukebrisbane]

I am pretty sure when Musk discusses using 48v he means to replace the separate 12v system that runs the radio/head unit, wipers, door motors, lights etc. for 48v which would mean a redesign of many those components. The drive motors are running at high voltage already and would likely not be effected by this upgrade so copper used for them would not change.

[nicafyl]

The motors are not 12V. They are "high voltage". So, there will be no weight change in the motors.

[ericliu]

This is where doing the right thing (48V) versus doing the easier thing (stay on 12V) shows Tesla’s advantage over other car makers.

[nagki]

Using lower voltage 12v for auxillary system means during operating of those devices they will draw more current which means thicker copper needed to withstand the high current draw. A 48V system can reduce the current draw from the DC-DC converter box by 1/4th and hence its thickness which in turn should also reduce and hence the amount of copper used. Amazing level of attention to detail for improving the overall cost. As an example:- an 100W device running on 12V system needs to draw nearly ~9A versus ~2A on a 48V system, reducing the need to make wires withstand 9A.

[simonreeves]

Hi Sam, 48v system is long overdue. Ironically this would have even more benefit in an ICE car - the starter-motor and alternator would be so much cheaper and more reliable on 48v architecture. The other big benefit is for the sound system quality, getting good sound quality from a 12v power source sucks.

[astrogarage]

As a previous commenter mentioned, power over Ethernet is pretty much a standard at 48v, so there are many off the shelf components ready to go to that give the communication signals and power with a single thin lightweight cable. Example: power and monitor a window motor, or a backup camera etc.

[kevatut]

As mentioned here in the comments, the 48V refers to ancillary systems. Not the motors.

[BRN.]

This actually isn't a new idea. Auto engineers have been pushing for 48V systems for AT LEAST 30 years. It just so happens that management, accountants and suppliers and accountants always stopped them. Did I mention accountants?

[Paul-cjwb]

If you think saving copper going from 12V to 48V, imagine how much they would save going from 400V to 800V. That's where you really save a ton on copper and lower the heat in the battery pack, making it 4 times easier to keep the cells cool versus 400V.

[vipahman]

To put this into lay terms, I = V/R. So a 30A circuit over a 12V system requires a high gauge wire to keep the resistance under 0.40 ohms (30 = 12 / 0.40). Now if you upgrade to a 48V system, the same 30A can be achieved with a low gauge wire with resistance under 1.6 ohms (30 = 48 / 1.60). That uses less copper as low gauge is the same as a thinner wire.

[niceguyrides]

I think he meant a quarter of the weight in the auxiliary systems, not the drivetrain.

[kennethausten]

It makes sense to me as a retired electrical engineer as the cables can be smaller, you can reduce the current enormously. Yes quarter of the original would be correct. Basic ohms law will give you the awnser. Why 400kv is used for electrical distribution.. could not be done at our 240 volt distribution. It's the current that determines the size of cable, not the voltage. By increasing the voltage and reducing the current, will provide exactly the same work load at 12 volts but with higher current and heavier cables.

[aintquitewright]

Copper only costs about $4 per pound. Most of the savings will come from using much smaller wires for higher voltages. Making the smaller wires requires far less manufacturaing than larger wires needed for 12V systems. That's where the savings comes in.

[swedishchefdave]

Automotive-style 12-volt batteries have been around for quite a while; however, most major American manufacturers did not begin using 12-volt ignition, charging and starting systems until the mid-1950s. Ford, Lincoln and Mercury began using a BCI group size 29N in 1956, their first 12-volt offering.

[markbrowning]

With most components controlled via microchips it makes sense to swap to a system that allows power & communication via a single cable (Power Over Ethernet) just think of the 48v system as a POE Switch

[worstusername]

Wish you and your family well Sam. You and ur crew are awesome making all these videos

[jordansage]

12V vs 48V is 1/4 because Voltage bumps require no additional copper, but amperage does, and using 4x the volts and 1/4 the amps is where he gets that number

[elogedelaraisondure]

No change in traction motors regarding copper, since they are not 12V motors but high voltage ones (around 350-400V depending on models).

But low voltage electrical harnesses are a significant part of the car's weight, since almost everything needs electricity (windows, wipers, audio, lighting, seats...) and to get the same power with 48V you need only 1/4 of the current compared to 12V (since P = U * I).


That means you need also wires which are only 1/4 as big in cross-section, or 1/2 as large in diameter, and yes, assuming the same length for the wires (using 48V will not shorten them!) it's actually 1/4 of the copper mass that you need. But only for low voltage part.

[briancampbell]

The maths is pretty simple. Copper conductor cross sectional area is inversely linked to resistance and the amount of current that it can carry. The higher the current the greater the cross section of the conductor that is required.

The issue is that a component will require a certain amount of power. Cut the amount of power to the headlights and they go dim.

Electronics 101 : power = voltage × current. If you quadruple the vokrage from 12V to 48V, you only need ¼ of the current to deliver the same power. Copper cross section is dependant on current only, not voltage. The requirements for insulating 12V wires and 48V is virtually identical.

What if the device at the end doesn't like 48V? These days you can get devices called buck converters that can efficiently drop the voltage and deliver the increated current. There's a little bit of inefficiency but if you have a 12V device that draws 4A, a buck converter fed 48V will draw a little over 1A from the supply.

This trick of using high voltage to reduce the current needed to deliver high power has been used for over a century in our electrical grid. It's why power is transferred over long distances via high voltage lines on large pylons. It is far more efficient to do this and build substations and put transformers on the poles to step the voltage down once it has arrived where needed.

Sam did make a blunder at the very end talking about the saving in the motors. These already run way above 48V. His earlier statement about it not affecting the drive train is correct.

[lawrenceleske]

Doing the 48V conversion in the cybertruck enables the conversion of all of the actuators which will then be available for the Y and 3 in quantity. Tesla will then convert all its models to 48V, saving copper in volume. Its electronics are easily converted from available parts.