Design for First 3D-Printed Vehicle Fleet Released

Taking to the pavement in a sleek 3D-printed vehicle may be just around the corner.

This week, Local Motors, a technology company that designs, builds and sells vehicles, announced the winning design for a competition aimed at finding a design to serve as a model for the first fleet of 3D-printed vehicles, which the company plans to debut in the first quarter of 2016.

“At Local Motors, we are hellbent on revolutionizing manufacturing,” said Co-founder and CEO John B. Rogers Jr. “Car manufacturers have been stamping parts the same way for more than 100 years. We now have the technology to make the process and products better and faster.”

The winning design is the “Reload Redacted – Swim/Sport” designed by Kevin Lo, a Local Motors community member. Local Motors touts the design as a showcase to the many benefits of direct digital manufacturing, which allows the ability to create customizable vehicles. “For example, the Local Motors co-creation community has built an electric powertrain test platform to explore advanced battery technology that will go into the 3D-printed car,” according to Local Motors. That technology utilizes the lithium-ion chemistry in current electric vehicles.



The feasibility of using lithium-sulfur battery technology, which produces three times more energy and is half the weight of lithium-ion technology, is also being explored by the company.

READ WHITE PAPER ON PROTOTYPING PROCESSES

Local Motors introduced the world to the first 3D-printed car in September 2014, when it unveiled the Strati at the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago. The car was completed in collaboration with Cincinnati Incorporated, a built-to-order machine tool manufacturer, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The International Business Times reported the print took 44 hrs, and the vehicle was made from only 40 parts.

Lo’s design was chosen by Local Motors’ community and a professional judging panel, which included former “Tonight Show” host and car enthusiast Jay Leno, Specialty Equipment Market Association’s VP of Vehicle Technology John Waraniak and SABIC Senior Manager Geert Jan Schellekens.

The 2016 iteration of the design is set to be a low-speed electric vehicle with a highway version following later in the year.

NBC News reported the first iteration is set to be priced between $18,000 and $30,000.



Source:www.rdmag.com