Urbee 2: a real car printed on a 3D printer

Not so long ago on Habré there was news that NASA is going to send a rocket to Mars, many details of which are printed on a 3D printer. It turns out that there are other projects already quite terrestrial vehicles that are planned to be printed on a 3D printer (albeit, apart from the engine and other elements that are not printed at all, at least for now). One of these projects - Urbee 2, the car, which is not a concept, but already a production model.

The author of the project Urbee 2, Jim Cor, recently told in detail to one of the popular media about his car. The latter is a three-wheeled hybrid, which is created from a metal frame and 50 plastic elements. According to the developer, the weight of the car is only 544 kilograms, and its strength is at the level of standard cars.
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To create a plastic case, ABS plastic is used, using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printing. FDM is a type of 3D printing, when very thin layers of plastic (microscopically thin) are applied one on another, until the object is fully prepared. The process is so automated that the developers put, for example, a bumper on the "seal", and go to drink coffee (well, or working on other elements is also an option). After a few hundred hours, the design is completely ready. To create a fully finished car takes about 2.5 thousand hours.

Interestingly, Urbee 2 in many countries and regions will not even need to register as a car itself. Due to its characteristics, Urbee 2 in most countries can be registered as a motorcycle. Car hybrid, as already mentioned at the beginning of the news. So, it is equipped with a gasoline engine and battery.



Unfortunately, the driving characteristics of the car are unknown (i.e., the possible speed of the car is unknown). But the developer is going to drive about 4.6 thousand kilometers in just 37.8 liters of fuel. True, Jim Cor did not tell whether he would charge the battery of his car while traveling.

Urbee 2 will soon be in the series, and there are already 14 pre-orders for it. As for the price, the prototype cost the development team 50 thousand dollars. Of course, if you run Urbee 2 in the series, the cost price of the car will be many times lower (in any case, in most cases this happens).

Via wired