3D Printed Car May Signal a Revolution for Small Automakers

I'll take a small-batch run-about, please

Picture an assembly line not that isn't made up of robotic arms spewing sparks to weld heavy steel, but a warehouse of plastic-spraying printers producing light, cheap and highly efficient automobiles.

If Jim Kor's dream is realized, that's exactly how the next generation of urban runabouts will be produced. His creation is called the Urbee 2 and it could revolutionize parts manufacturing while creating a cottage industry of small-batch automakers intent on challenging the status quo.

Urbee's approach to maximum miles per gallon starts with lightweight construction – something that 3-D printing is particularly well suited for. The designers were able to focus more on the optimal automobile physics, rather than working to install a hyper efficient motor in a heavy steel-body automobile. As the Urbee shows, making a car with this technology has a slew of beneficial side effects.

Comments

[Sevo]

I'll be skeptical.
A "car" is not a single thing, it's a pretty thoroughly integrated amalgam of, say, 20 to 30 systems and/or conflicting requirements.
3D printing can't resolve those issues, it can only make a bad compromise cheap to produce.

[Free Society]

It can't resolve those issues yet, but don't rule it out. It's the way of the future. Way of the future. Way of the future. Way of the future. Way of the future. Way of the future. Way of the future. Way of the future. Way of the future. Way of the future. Way of the future. Way of the future.

[Alan]

We're definitely going to see more of this sort of thing. Wikispeed is also working on new methods of design and construction, though it isn't ALL done with a 3D printer.

http://www.wikispeed.com/