Meeting the Challenges of Automotive Machining.

It’s an interesting time to be in the business of machining automotive components. Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that OEMs are largely phasing out their internal combustion engine product lines and transitioning to electrical vehicles. Electric vehicles are expected to make up almost 60 percent of new vehicle sales by 2030, so production needs to ramp up fast.

While this means a lot less machining of engine and transmission components, the EV transition opens new doors for shops with the right mix of talent, tools, and tenacity. Four things to keep in mind when looking at the opportunities:

We’re going to need electric motors. Lots of electric motors.

While most of today’s EVs have one or two motors, some manufacturers are adding even more for performance and responsiveness. The Lucid Air and Tesla Model S Plaid both feature three motors, and Rivian offers models with four motors. All these motors mean high demand for the machined components that go into them: multiple EV motor housings per unit, precision shafts, bearings and more.

Quiet cars need more precise components.

Which means tight tolerances are getting even tighter. If you haven’t driven an EV yet, one of the first things you’ll notice is how quiet they are. With no internal combustion engine noise to hide the rattles and squeaks, all EV components are going to need to be made to higher standards to keep them quieter. Machined components will need to be more precise, and stampings and moldings will require better dies and molds.

Add lightness (sorry, Colin Chapman).

There is a direct correlation between EV weight and total range. EVs tend to be substantially chonkier than their ICE counterparts, primarily due to the mass of batteries needed. So, EV manufacturers need to shave pounds wherever they can, and are increasingly looking to lighter materials for components previously made from traditional materials. You’ll be hearing lots about composites and magnesium, but don’t count out our old friend aluminum.

That second letter in EV? It stands for “vehicle.”

And like their ICE counterparts, electric vehicles still need machined components for their suspensions, steering systems, drivelines, climate systems, braking systems and more. Body panels and interior components will require new dies machined by 5-axis machining centers. In short: even though the elimination of machining needed for engine and transmission components is significant, there is still a ton of metal cutting needed to produce new electric vehicles.