Stratasys.com Case Study: Urbee
All would be forgiven if you were complexed into deciding what this vehicle actually was. Is it a car or could it be a bike? The answer to the previous question could depend on the country where you live and what the legal regulations actually state. The below model is called an Urbee, which is in fact, a three-wheeled car in its second stage of rapid prototyping.
The Urbee has been built to run on electrical energy and has the ability to store up energy with the help of the onboard batteries. This helps this concept-car-creation run only on electricity and produces no harmful fumes that can have a negative effect on the environment.
The other beauty of the Urbee is that it is completely made from 3d printing technology. This means that the full interior and exterior is specifically designed and made using cutting-edge three-dimensional printing technology. This has now placed the Urbee high on the list of the greenest cars created in the world.
3d printing technology allows this car to be built up layer by layer instead of the traditional methods of sheet metal panels which are welded together. This means with using the newer methods of three-dimensional printing that there is very little waste in product materials.
This design is still in its early stages of development and has the opportunity for investment and needs millions of dollars to move it forward to where it wants to go. It also has a long way to go to meet official, legal automobile standards and safety tests to make sure that it can be legally driven on the road.
This project and its results just back up how advanced 3d printing technology has become and the endless limitations that it possesses.