Arcimoto's Fun Utility Vehicle with generatively designed components.
Arcimoto's Fun Utility Vehicle with generatively designed components.
Electric vehicle company Arcimoto Inc is working with XponentialWorks and ParaMatters to design and additively manufacture lightweight components for its Fun Utility Vehicle (FUV).
The partners are hoping to achieve reduce costs, improve efficiency and performance and ultimately make the FUV more environmentally friendly.
Deploying ParaMatters’ AI-powered generative design software, a number of components are being redesigned in order to generate alternative parts that carry much of the same performance characteristics but at a lighter weight. This, it is believed, will enable Arcimoto to swap out the heavier, existing components and enable the FUC to drive farther distances on a single charge, see improvements to its acceleration and deliver better handling.
So far, the partners have identified multiple components from which benefits can be derived from their lightweighting. Among these parts are the rear swing arm, which has been lightweighted by up to 34%; the brake pedal, lightweighted up to 49%; and the upper control arm lightweighted up to 52%. The entire redesign of these parts, from concept to printed component, is said to have taken no more than four weeks.
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“We are thrilled to open Arcimoto’s ultra-efficient vehicle platform to XponentialWorks’ team of lightweighting and additive manufacturing experts,” commented Arcimoto CEO Mark Frohnmayer. “Our mission to rightsize the footprint of daily mobility means a continued commitment to optimising not just the vehicle platform architecture, but all of its constituent parts as well. The speed at which the XponentialWorks team has made meaningful weight improvements to core components of the Fun Utility Vehicle is truly impressive.”
“With the powerful combination of AI-generated designs and ultra-fast 3D printing processes, we are now able to create complex geometric structures which substantially lightweight vehicles, improve performance, lower production costs and save on battery powder. We welcome this opportunity with Arcimoto to provide their drivers with the best possible in-vehicle experience,” added XponentialWorks founder Avi Reichental. “In this new age of industry 4.0 manufacturing, no one company can do it alone. This project demonstrates the power of curating relationships and building joint innovation programmes that pool together resources and expertise from complementary organisations to create practical tractable products in record time.”
