Printing our way to foreign oil independence
3D printed hybrid production more realistic than foreign oil independence
In the not too distant future 3D printing will be responsible for the creation of solar cells and automobiles, and one of the first cars to reach production via 3D printing could be the Urbee hybrid.
And, while 3D printed automobiles might sound crazy, it seems far more realistic today than does foreign oil independence.
Earlier today I read a summary of GM’s Drive to 2030, a Blue Print for GM’s path to electrification. While its great to see GM putting forth such plans, it’s also a bit disconcerting to know that foreign oil dependence is an addiction that will not be shed for decades.
That’s not GM’s fault of course. Any more timely path to energy independence requires serious change collectively embraced by automakers, energy companies, government and consumers. That kind of consensus seems impossible in the US these days, at least not without a little fairy dust.
Anyway, according to Jalopnik “3D printing technology progressively adds layers of material according to a computer model to create a 3D object like the body of the Urbee plug-in hybrid.” While that’s pretty cool, isn’t the battery pack the biggest obstacle to hybrid and plug-in viability? Print out a next generation lithium battery via 3D printing and I’ll be really impressed – not to rain on the Urbee’s parade.
Certainly, if the Urbee can reduce production costs significantly, while pushing the edges of design toward greater efficiency, battery costs become a bit less extreme. Moreover, through the use of carbon fiber, perhaps next generation 3D battery printing isn’t quite as outlandish as it seems – at least not as outlandish as ending foreign oil dependence before 2030.
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