- Dec 30, 2012
- 4,809
Hearing aids, prosthetic limbs, even guns... 3D printers are certainly the creators of the future.
But now they are driving in a new direction.
American company Local Motors has built the world's first 3D-printed car, made from a mix of carbon fibre and plastic.
The car's body was created over two days, in a giant printer at a Chicago trade show.
It then took one day to refine the shape and two days to assemble the lightweight vehicle... which weighs in around 1,000 kilograms.
Local Motors engineer James Earl was part of the team which followed the design process from its beginnings in May this year.
Just four months later, he said he was excited the first, printed electric car was rolling off the production line.
YOUTUBE: The Strati 3D-printed car promotional video
"It's not a very long time frame from conception to design to production, especially compared with traditionally-made vehicles," he said.
Although other car parts have been printed before, this is the first time a car chassis has been printed in one piece, using direct digital manufacturing.
Only a few parts, like the electric engine, suspension and tyres, were made using traditional methods.
In total, the new car has only 49 parts, significantly less than a standard car, which has around 5,000.
"The thing that this lends most to is customisation-ality, so you can get a car that really suits your needs with very little monetary input from the design side," Mr Earl said.
Called the 'Strati', the Italian word for 'layers', the battery-powered car can reach speeds of 65 kilometres per hour, although it is not yet allowed on actual roads.
Local Motors expects that approval will come soon.
It says the Strati will retail for around $20,000.
Source
Topics: science-and-technology, automotive, computers-and-techn
