Test drive a 3D-printed car
Science and technology go hand in hand to unfold new possibilities, build seemingly impossible dreams, and make them come true. Printing technology is no exception to it. Soon we would bid goodbye to two-dimensional printing and turn our eyes on the emerging new equations of printing in the three-dimensions .
The 3D printing research started to make news last year when researchers from Cornell University developed the 3D food printer. Soon after, prototypes for the 3D chocolate printer and the 3D toys printer followed the suit. While researchers are busy thinking about more aspects of this 3D technology, expectations go as far as to the printers that would print out buildings or fossil models . It sounds exactly as if a child’s fantasies have come true, doesn’t it!
The news this time is about a 3D-printed car. If you are guessing it to be a toy car, be assured that it is not. Partly made with the help of a 3D printer, the car named ‘Urbee’, was put on display in an exhibition at TEDxWinnipeg conference, in Canada. Urbee is an environment friendly car. It has electric motors, powered by a moderate hybrid engine that runs on ethanol and gasoline, both. It delivers a mileage of 200 miles per gallon.
The car has been developed after several years of efforts by using the additive manufacturing technology that involves production based on layer upon layer. Stratasys, who deal in 3D printing, and Kor Ecologic, an engineering company, have created it together. The car-design is that of concept cars and the developers plan to utilize recyclable materials for its manufacture, making it a green innovation. It also has solar panels and the vehicle has a life of 30 years.
The Urbee is anticipated to hit the markets by 2014, with a price ranging between $10,000 – $50,000.
So get set for a test drive.