I knew it was coming sooner or later. 3d printed cars... So, upgrade your printers rails and get started, it will be spring soon. Plus, at 30mm/sec on my Makerfarm, it might take a few thousand hours to complete. I hope it sticks to the bed. And, if it warps on the corners will that make my front end out of alignment?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMQJkkchTi4
(I searched the forum to see if this has been mentioned before but our search engine found nothing so I hope this is not redundant.)
An interesting combination 3D printing and electric driven. However, I think the print needs a few gallons of acetone to make the body aesthetically pleasing.
I would have liked to have seen the chassis. It's all well and good making a car in this way, but unless its chassis is robust, it wouldn't last any longer than a child's ride-on toy.
On the positive side, I can see this design/print process being the next step in custom car bodies and leading to the demise of fibreglass bodies.
Old Man Emu
Watching the video, I don't think there is a classical chassis, but more of a monocoque design, similar to how the Bugatti Veyron and other high end cars are currently being made. The body is the chassis. I don't disagree with your sentiment though.
There are some relatively smooth areas thanks to the hybrid additive/subtractive process they use. The printer makes one pass, then there is a CNC tool head that makes a pass along the outside of the layer to smooth it out. There is a little bit of waste and it's a little bit slower, but it's clearly not a process they use on the entire body.
Personally, I think it's slow, silly looking, and probably absurdly unsafe in a crash, but the possibilities the process opens up are exciting.
Poor choice of tires. Motorcycle tires are easily 2+ times the cost of a car tire and rarely last more than 5-10k miles depending on usage. REALLY hard compound tires will go 15-20k and are sometimes less expensive but you give up grip in the process. Not to mention the rounded profile necessary for a bike to lean will serve only to focus wear on the center of the tire in an auto application so you're spending more money, for less life, and wasting 2/3's or so of the available tread.
I'm guessing that most decisions about that car are done for physics and not longevity and cost. That prototype car probably cost more than a Bentley. I don't think they worried about prices much. The smaller tires are lighter and have less friction. I think every little bit helps in getting movement out of a motor with limited torque. I'm sure there are 100's of things that could have been done differently. I applaud that fact that he just did it. I doubt anyone would have criticized Eienstein for writing "E=MC2" (can't do superscript here) in chalk instead of pencil... lol... :)