Local Motors reveals new design for their 3D-printed production car, planned to come on market next year. The automaker has chosen the design for the 2+2 coupe from among 60 entries by company's crowdsourcing community.
The days of mega factories consuming tremendous amounts of energy and time in order to fabricate products are gone forever. A more flexible and sustainable factory model is on the horizon. They are called micro-factories and will dramatically change the way we produce consumer goods for local needs.
Local Motors business model is based on this concept of "micro-factories". Customers can participate in the design and assembly of their vehicles. Automaker's cars belong to the custom build "kit car" category. This allows them several exempts from government regulations that challenge low volume manufacturers to get a foothold on the car market in the United States.
The winner design, Reload Redacted, was submitted by Kevin Lo, a mechanical engineer. It envisions a reconfigurable sports car that's part track day machine, part beach buggy. The transformable car will be built around a skateboard-style chassis housing the steering and suspension, battery, and drivetrain. The car features removable roof, rear, and front panels, and external speakers for the audio system, which can be switched between styles. It sounds ounds pretty close to a Transformers car coming out of the Hollywood's silver screen.
The body parts and the composite chassis will be produced "3D printer" with the dimensions of a room. The printer was developed by Local Motors automaker in collaboration with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. At the Detroit Auto Show, in January, was demonstrated an early version of the 3D printer technology, used for building out the prototype Strati car.
The production version of Local Motors' reconfigurable sports car will be built at a facility in Knoxville, Tennessee. In the coming years Local Motors plans to add more production facilities in various locations. The new sports car will initially be sold with a price tag between $18,000 and $30,000, as a low speed neighborhood vehicle. However, the automaker will make available by the end of 2016 a highway legal version.
The current Local Motors' model, the more conventional Rally Fighter takes several days to be built. The 3D printed version would be quick to build, since it has far fewer components. Up to date the specifications for the Reload Redacted, such as battery range, speed and power have not yet been revealed. However, it is known that Local Motors is aiming to have the sport car ready for the Las Vegas show Specialty Equipment, in November.
