{"id":9146,"date":"2013-02-28T19:16:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-28T19:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.74.50.173\/2013\/02\/radical-improvement-like-290-mpg-car.html"},"modified":"2017-04-07T04:18:45","modified_gmt":"2017-04-07T04:18:45","slug":"radical-improvement-like-290-mpg-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextbigfuture.com\/2013\/02\/radical-improvement-like-290-mpg-car.html","title":{"rendered":"Radical Improvement like a 290 mpg car from 3D Printing Requires Radical Redesign"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Urbee 2 is a 3D printed car and it could revolutionize parts manufacturing while creating a cottage industry of small-batch automakers intent on challenging the status quo.<\/a><\/p>\n

Precise Control to Enable Lighter and Stronger Construction<\/b><\/p>\n

Making the car body via FDM [3D Printed ABS plastic via Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)] affords precise control that would be impossible with sheet metal. When he builds the aforementioned bumper, the printer can add thickness and rigidity to specific sections. When applied to the right spots, this makes for a fender that\u2019s as resilient as the one on your Prius, but much lighter. That translates to less weight to push, and a lighter car means more miles per gallon. And the current model has a curb weight of just 1,200 pounds.<\/p>\n

Radically fewer Parts for more Strength and Simplicity<\/b><\/p>\n

To further remedy the issues caused by modern car-construction techniques, Kor used the design freedom of 3-D printing to combine a typical car\u2019s multitude of parts into simple unibody shapes. For example, when he prints the car\u2019s dashboard, he\u2019ll make it with the ducts already attached without the need for joints and connecting parts. What would be dozens of pieces of plastic and metal end up being one piece of 3-D printed plastic.<\/p>\n

More Aerodynamic Designs are Enabled<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThe thesis we\u2019re following is to take small parts from a big car and make them single large pieces,\u201d Kor says. By using one piece instead of many, the car loses weight and gets reduced rolling resistance, and with fewer spaces between parts, the Urbee ends up being exceptionally aerodynamic.\u201d How aerodynamic? The Urbee 2\u2032s teardrop shape gives it just a 0.15 coefficient of drag.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Not all of the Urbee is printed plastic \u2014 the engine and base chassis will be metal, naturally. They\u2019re still figuring out exactly who will make the hybrid engine, but the prototype will produce a maximum of 10 horsepower. Most of the driving \u2013 from zero to 40 mph \u2013 will be done by the 36-volt electric motor. When it gets up to highway speeds, the engine will tap the fuel tank to power a diesel engine.<\/p>\n

Safe Enough for Formula 1 or NASCAR<\/b><\/p>\n

But how safe is a 50-piece plastic body on a highway?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re calling it race car safety,\u201d Kor says. \u201cWe want the car to pass the tech inspection required at Le Mans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The design puts a tubular metal cage around the driver, \u201clike a NASCAR roll cage,\u201d Kor claims. And he also mentioned the possibility of printed shock-absorbing parts between the printed exterior and the chassis. Going by Le Mans standards also means turn signals, high-beam headlights, and all the little details that make a production car.<\/p>\n

$50,000 cost for Prototype<\/b><\/p>\n

Kor already has 14 orders, mostly from people who worked on the design with him. The original Urbee prototype was estimated to cost around $50,000.<\/p>\n

290 mpg<\/b><\/p>\n

Will be able to drive the latest prototype from San Francisco to New York on 10 gallons of gas, preferably pure ethanol<\/p>

\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
<\/div><\/div>\n

SOURCE – Wired<\/p>\n

If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator<\/a><\/b> or StumbleUpon<\/a><\/b>. Thanks<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Urbee 2 is a 3D printed car and it could revolutionize parts manufacturing while creating a cottage industry of small-batch automakers intent on challenging the status quo. Precise Control to Enable Lighter and Stronger Construction Making the car body via FDM [3D Printed ABS plastic via Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)] affords precise control that … <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[172,14,59,3,20,60,6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextbigfuture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9146"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextbigfuture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextbigfuture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextbigfuture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextbigfuture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextbigfuture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextbigfuture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextbigfuture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextbigfuture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextbigfuture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}