First Fused-Filament, Fully-Electric Vehicle

3D Printing & Imaging CNC & Machining Craft & Design
First Fused-Filament, Fully-Electric Vehicle

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We caught up with Jay Rodgers, the Founder and CEO of Local Motors, after his MakerCon talk to learn more about their motor vehicle co-creation platform, micro-factories where they provide free access to digital fabrication equipment for collaborative car, motorcycle and trike building. Plus, we get to check out their stellar carbon fiber, 3D printed, fully-electric car, the Strati.

The Strati (which translates to “layers” in Italian) was designed by Michael Anoe. It has 100% electric Renualt Trizy electric powertrain and was build by Local Motors in partnership with the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Cincinnati Incorporated. It was printed on a massive additive machine at a thick extrusion width using pellets comprised of carbon fiber and ABS that are fed into a large hopper. All parts of the car were printed at the same time, although not in the same piece and each layer took about 15 minutes.

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As seen in the detail pictures in the slideshow, parts of the Strati hood and interior were subtractively machined on a 5-axis CNC to create detail. Local Motors staff speculated that the Strati could do around 30 miles per hour in its current form, but they have yet to put it to the test.

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Anna Kaziunas France is interested practical digital fabrication focused project documentation (anything that turns codes into things), as well as adventures in synthetic biology, biohacking, personal genomics and programmable materials.

She's currently working on the forthcoming book "Design for CNC: Practical Joinery Techniques, Projects, and Tips for CNC-routed Furniture".

She’s also the Academic Dean of the global Fab Academy program, the co-author of Getting Started with MakerBot and compiled the Make: 3D Printing book.

Formerly, she worked as an editor for Make: Books, was digital fabrication editor and skill builder section editor for Make: Magazine, and directed Make:'s 2015 and 2014 3D Printer Shootout testing events.

She likes things that are computer-controlled, parametric, and open— preferably all three.

Find her on her personal site, Twitter and Facebook.

View more articles by Anna Kaziunas France

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