Urbee: The World’s First 3-D Printed Car
3-D printing and rapid prototyping have been among the hottest trends in design innovation this year. But Urbee, a two-passenger hybrid vehicle whose entire body has been generated using a 3-D additive manufacturing process, ups the ante on what this technology can offer.
A collaboration between transportation and product design outfit KOR Ecologic and rapid prototyping service Stratasys, Urbee was designed for the 2010 Progressive Automotive X-Prize competition to build the world’s most energy-efficient vehicle and while Urbee didn’t win the $10 million, it does offer significant energy efficiency – up to 200 mpg on the highway and 100 mpg in the city, running on either gasoline or ethanol.
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Skyway, an early predecessor to Urbee designed by KOR, dates back to 1994, promising a pedal-powered alternative to cars weighing only 80 pounds and capable of moving at 35 mph. We were also promised jetpacks that year.
Maria Popova is the editor of Brain Pickings, a curated inventory of miscellaneous interestingness. She writes for Wired UK, GOOD Magazine, Design Observer and Huffington Post, and spends a shameful amount of time on Twitter.
