Chinese 3D printing firms Polymaker and X Electrical
Vehicle Limited (XEV) have recently launched the LSEV, a 3D-printed electrified
city car that you can purchase for just US$ 10,000. Polymaker CEO, Xiaofan Luo,
while acknowledging that there are other companies that use 3D printing for
production, claims that no other product can compare with the LSEV “in terms of
size, the scale and the intensity.”
The LSEV measures 2,489 mm in length,
1,295 mm in width and stands 1,498 mm tall tall, which
actually makes it smaller than the Smart ForTwo. The LSEV also weighs 450 kg, and is claimed to have a top speed of 69 km/h and a maximum
EV range of 149 km,.
XEV designed this car using just 57 components,
whereas conventional vehicles tend to have over 2,000 components and weigh more
than 998 kg, according to Polymaker. The only visible parts not
3D-printed on the LSEV are the chassis, seats and glass components – while 3D
printing materials include enhanced nylon, polylactic acid and TPU
(thermoplastic polyurethane).
The Chinese company says that their car is “four to
five times stronger” than an equivalently sized conventional vehicle like the
Smart. In a report from Interesting Engineering, the car manufacturer claims to
be able to build the Smart-sized LSEV in just three days, which sounds
impressive – and scary, at the same time.
The plan right now is for the LSEV to reach European
and Asian customers in April of 2019, priced at US$ 10,000. According to XEV,
there have already been 7,000 orders for the small EV, with most customers
being from Europe. The company plans to build some 20,000 examples of the small
EV before the end of next year.
At the time, it’s unknown whether or not the LSEV
will make it to the U.S.
