Supercar is called ‘Blade’.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A San Francisco start-up has debuted the world’s first 3D printed supercar in an effort to challenge the automotive industry’s current status quo.
The company, Divergent Microfactories, says the supercar, which is called the Blade, is built on a chassis that is 90 per cent lighter than traditional cars and can accelerate from 0 to 60mph in about two seconds.
Kevin Czinger, Divergent’s founder and chief executive, said the company is looking to raise $10 million to build a plant over the next 18 months to hone the tooling needed for the vehicle, reported the Financial Times.
The Blade’s chassis is quite unique, according to Engadget. Instead of having to generate the entire component as a single unit, Divergent developed a 3D printed aluminum “Node” joint. The printed carbon fiber tubes that make up the chassis plug into the nodes to form a strong and lightweight frame for the rest of the vehicle.
Czinger’s goal is to sell the company’s patents to entrepreneurs who will then be able to use the technology to build their own plants capable of producing new supercars.
“The big advantage is its low capital intensity,” Tim Lawrence, a manufacturing expert at PA Consulting, told the Financial Times. “The thing that costs huge amounts of money is setting up the manufacturing and assembly lines and the specialist tooling. 3D is additive — you’re not pressing into a tool — so you’re not needing as much of that capital equipment.”
Additive manufacturing also provides greater variety and customization for the consumer, without raising the cost of production for the manufacturer. Consequently, it could revolutionize the market for spare parts.
1 Comment
its really awesome