14 DAY TRIAL // This wouldn't be the first time we come across rumors or news about 3D printing technology being used to help build a car or plane, but that doesn't matter because it's not what happened. Not exactly.
Instead, what we have here is the very first ever fully 3D printed automobile. A car that was 3D printed in a single, full-size piece.
It sounds incredible, to be sure, but the folks at the Geneva Motor Show don't lie. And it is there that the car is on display.
The 3D printed car has been fairly aptly dubbed Genesis and is made from carbon fiber, with thermoplastic materials applied to the exterior by robots.
It is composed of a shell-like chassis that is reinforced on the inside with interlocking supports, resembling bone structures.
One would think that it took some really sophisticated process to make the car in a single move, and that the creators had to jump through a lot of hoops to make it happen.
That's not what happened. At all. Instead, German engineering firm EDAG came to the conclusion that the best process was fused deposition modeling, or FDM for short.
And it just so happens that FDM is the most common type of 3D printing technology known to man at this point in time.
In fact, most printers from Cubify and MakerBot use FDM, allowing a product to be printed in layers of melted plastic or other materials that have been heated to the point of liquefaction.
In the case of EDAG's Genesis car, robotic extruders produced the melted polymer material to create the structure, and carbon fibers were added during the production process.
Keep in mind that only the body of the Genesis was made this way though. The motor and all the electrical/computer parts are still a different matter.
So I suppose we could say that even EDAG's Genesis isn't a fully 3D printed car, but it will be ages before 3D printing technology can create something as complex as a computer from the ground up. It will coincide with the end of manufacturing industry as we know it (and, thus, will probably kill off capitalism as well).
We won't have to worry about that for a few lifetimes still, however. Or at least a few decades. In the meanwhile, feast your eyes on the product shot, or render, of the turtle-like Genesis car. It's not the biggest vehicle chassis in history, but it will suit racers well enough.
