3D-Printed Electric Car Set for 2019 Market Release
The LSEV
Photo: Polymaker 3D Printing Materials
While 3D printers have coined an array of items, from lamp fixtures to guitars to camera lenses, cars are one object that they haven’t produced yet—until now.
Italian car manufacturer, XEV, and 3D printing materials developer, Polymaker, recently introduced the LSEV electric car. Although it’s still in the concept car stage, this 3D-printed marvel has already secured 7,000 orders from entities like ARVAL, a vehicle leasing company, and Poste Italiane, a postal services provider based in Italy. China is predicted to be a hot market for the LSEV, when it becomes available in the next year.
As Dr Luo Xiaofan, the co-founder and CEO of Polymaker, articulated the uniqueness of the concept car. “XEV is the first real mass production project using 3D printing. By saying real, I mean there are lots of companies using 3D printing for production, but nothing can really compare with XEV in terms of the size, the scale and the intensity.”
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The LSEV car weighs approximately 992 pounds and can attain a maximum speed of approximately 45 MPH and has a range just over 90 miles. XEV and Polymaker tweaked the design of the car so it only requires 57 plastic components.
According to Sam Davies, contributor with TCT Magazine, all the visible parts of the car have been made via 3D printing, except for the seats, glass and chassis. This reduces the manufacturer’s investment cost by 70%.
Stanley Lu, CEO of XEV, highlighted how this 3D vehicle could help boost efficiency across the industry. “There are so many benefits that 3D printing brings to our process. […] You can […] change the way how industrial make cars today. The investment of building a factory becomes much smaller. We create the most efficient way of production, not just for car, but for other projects.”
We anticipate more news about this exciting innovation as await its anticipated market release in 2019.
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News Sources: Fortune, TCT Magazine, Hongkiat
Whitney Russell resides in Dayton, though her spirit can be found beach-bumming in Puerto Rico (the land of her half-Puerto Rican heritage). When not crafting car-related content, she can be found chasing after the most amazing toddler in the world, watching her “beaver” of a husband build amazing woodworking projects, hanging out with two crazy dogs, and visiting family and friends. She also enjoys traveling, crafting, and binge-watching period dramas when time allows. See more articles by Whitney.