Polymaker electric car
The LSEV electric car, featuring 57 3D printed parts.
Polymaker, a developer of 3D printing materials, and XEV, an Italian car manufacturer, have unveiled a mass-producible 3D printed electric car.
The car, a proof-of-concept model named LSEV, has seen all its plastic parts 3D printed in Polymaker Industrial materials.
By incorporating FDM 3D printing and Polymaker materials, XEV has decreased the number of plastic components in the car from more than 2,000 to 57. The LSEV weighs just 450 kilograms, compared to the tonne that is typical of similarly-sized cars. Save for the chassis, seats and glass, all visible parts of the car have been manufactured in Polymaker materials through 3D printing, which has meant a 70% reduction of investment cost. The design process for the car, per the partners, was complete within just a year – it is not uncommon for this to take up to five years.
Polymaker electric car
The 57 plastic parts, interior and exterior, were produced in just three days – Each of XEV’s 3D printing systems extruding 25kg of material per day. This level of productivity supplemented the weight and cost savings, and ensured a successful application of 3D printing technology for XEV.
“There are so many benefits that 3D printing brings to our process,” commented Stanley Lu, XEV CEO. “To summarise, we give freedom to creativity. Not only our customers, but also the general public can have a way to join the car development. You can also 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.
“Without Polymaker, we couldn’t make this happen. We really like our interactions with Polymaker. Without this kind of interaction, we couldn’t find the solution we have today.”
“XEV is the first real mass production project using 3D printing,” said Dr Luo Xiaofan, the co-foudner and CEO of Polymaker. “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.”
It is thought XEV plans to start mass producing the LSEV in the second quarter of 2019.
