A 3D-printed electric car in China

A 3D-printed electric car could be available for US$7,500 and take just three days to build.

The EV from the Italian carmaker XEV and 3D-printing-connected startup Polymaker is almost ready to be mass produced, Clean Technica reports.

The planned EV is called the LSEV and reportedly takes only three days to make. While most components are 3D printed, the chassis seats, and glass are not.

“XEV is the first real mass production project using 3D printing,” Polymaker co-founder and chief executive officer Dr Luo Xiaofan says.

“By saying real, I mean there are also lots of other companies using 3D printing for production. But nothing can really compare with XEV in terms of the size, the scale, and the intensity.”

The LSEV is 1.5 metres high, 2.5m long, and 1.3m wide. It weighs in at 450kg. It’s top speed is 70km/h and XEV claims the LSEV has about 150km of range.

XEV claims to have reduced the number of plastics it uses from more than 2000 to 57 pieces.

While designing and manufacturing a car takes on an average three to five years, the use of virtualisation helped XEV bring this down to under a year to finish the new design of the LSEV.

New Zealander Ira Munn is also developing a 3D-printed car from recycled plastic.