Leveraging Additive Manufacturing/ 3D Printing in Electric Vehicle

PART 3

The Global Automotive 3D Printing Market size is expected to be worth around USD 15.8 Billion by 2032 from USD 2.2 Billion in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 22.4%.

#electricvehicles

The application of AM has now gone beyond prototyping and is now gradually entering the production phase.?

In the automotive field, emerging companies like Local Motors, Divergent3D, XEV Yoyo, Vital Auto, etc. have all shown that it is possible to manufacture most of the car parts through AM.?

Bigger companies like General Motors are now taking notice and trying to incorporate it into their vehicles.

Bentley made an investment of more than 3 million euros & the company was able to manufacture more than 15,000 components in 3D in 2021.

BMW chose to utilize AM in the i8 Roadster for manufacturing convertible’s roof bracket and window guide rail. Also, used a metal 3D printer to print the entire brake caliper for BMW M850i Coupe Night Sky Edition. Furthermore, in June 2020, BMW finally opened their own Additive Manufacturing center with the aim of pooling their production skills

Volkswagen uses AM for applications like tooling, jigs & fixtures, and prototyping. Almost all of its tooling production has been switched and is based today on AM, saving the company hundreds of thousands of dollars each year ever since.?

There are a lot more applications of AM like these.

#3dprinting

The automotive 3D printing market is also being propelled by the rise in the number of government and industry initiatives to sponsor AM technology.

For instance, the Canadian government has launched the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) to drive the use of 3D printing among small- and medium-sized organizations. This is encouraging organizations to adopt cutting-edge technology to reduce the cost of operation and increase productivity.

Here are five advantages of using additive manufacturing in EV production:

Light weighting

3D printing paired with generative design and topology optimization software solutions allows geometry with optimized strength and reduced weight. Hence, EV can make room for a larger battery or more passengers, or extend the range of the vehicle.

Use of innovative materials

AM also makes solutions like carbon fiber-reinforced polymers more accessible; these composites can be a lighter and potentially more affordable alternative to metal parts. AM is compatible with high strength material like Titanium alloys & Nickel/Cobalt superalloys. It is also possible to print materials like copper for motor coils, lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) used in battery electrodes etc.

Simplified manufacturing

When designing for manufacturing, a key goal is to reduce assembly

On average, there are about 30,000 parts in every vehicle and printing 30,000 parts is not realistic or practical. A single AM part can easily replace several parts, leading to further improvements in production rates and reductions in assembly costs.

For instance, Generative Design can create an optimized chassis for a vehicle as a single part instead of hundreds.

Customization and personalization

3D printing makes it affordable to manufacture customized aesthetics giving customers more choice over the appearance of their vehicles. Functional accessories and optional features can also be made this way, easily adapted to specific.

Speed to market

3D printing has been used to prototype vehicles for decades, but is now suitable for many production parts as well.?

An EV manufacturer developing a new vehicle with AM in mind could move straight from prototyping to production as soon as the final design is reached.?

3D printing need not deliver the final production part either — printed tooling used for cutting, stamping, forming, molding or casting.

Cost

It's probably going to be more expensive, especially if you're not changing anything about the design, like a 3D printed bracket that looks exactly the same as a machined bracket, it's probably just going to cost more just because of the nature of the processes, you have to be able to change something for additive to be able to add some value and justify its cost or bring its cost down

Also, If the part has a highly complicated geometry, very high build-to-fly (BTF) when manufactured conventionally and is made from expensive raw material (Titanium alloys, for instance), then AM can be the cheaper option.

Still, this approach for cost reduction may not be possible in all cases.

Powder based AM systems are still extremely expensive and slow when considering metallic 3D Printing and do not yet justify mass production of vehicles. But WAAM could be a solution in some cases.

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

WAAM is an emerging AM technology that uses a combination of an electric arc as heat source and a metal wire as feedstock.

WAAM cannot yet compete with selective laser melting (powder bed) systems on surface finish and producing very complex parts, but inexpensive and fast compared to metal. Also, the size of parts made by powder-bed systems is limited by the size of the bed, whereas in WAAM, the size is limited by the reach of a robotic arm.

PIX Moving is using WAAM technology for manufacturing chassis for its product PIXBOT.?

They used topology optimization (involving its own generative design slime mold algorithm) and 3D printing (WAAM) has resulted in manufacturing cost reductions of 60% and lead time cuts of around 75%.

The ability to customize chassis platforms quickly and cost-effectively, therefore becomes critical in order for these start-ups to grow.

This trend can be attributed to the fact that AM systems offer huge customization, can quickly adapt to changes in part designs and can bring down supply chain costs drastically.

Leading players operating in the global 3D printing automotive market are 3D Systems, Carbon, Desktop Metal, EOS GmBH, ExOne, Fictiv, GE Additive, Markforged, Materialize NV, Prodways Group, Proto Labs, SLM Solutions, Stratasys, Ultimaker and Voxeljet.

Additive manufacturing has gained ground in EV production in part because of the newness of these vehicles, but will continue to be important to their advancement.

In my opinion, currently the Sweet Spot for Additive Manufacturing are Customization & Low Volume - High Value - Long Lead Time Parts.

#additivemanufacturing ?#electricvehicle ?#design ?#designengineer ?#3dprinting ?#manufacturing ?#automobile ?#transportation #cars ?#automotive #ev #engine #massproduction #stereolithography?#fdm ?#sls ?#metal3dprinting ?#binderjetting?#dmls?#polyjet?

Part 1 and Part 2 attached below:

PART 1

Are the New Generation of Electric Vehicles Ushering 3D Printing?

PART 2

Why is 3D Printing underestimated in the automobile sector for mass production?