XEV"s new electric car 3-D printed in just three days

The LSEV as it is called took only 3 days to make and was produced by Italian car maker XEV and Polymaker a developer of 3D printing.

XEV's new electric car is 3-D printed in just 3 days from CNBC.

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The cost was $7,500 and all components were created by 3D printing except for the chassis, seats, and glass. It is hoped that mass production of the vehicles is soon coming. In all there were 57 different parts created through 3D printing.

The LSEV looks somewhat like the VW Smart Car

The car is shown on the appended video It is a two-seater. It has a top speed of just about 43 miles per hour. On a single charge it can travel about 93 miles.

The 3D printing plus the Polymaker materials have reduced plastic components of the car from 2,000 to 57.

The car weighs just 450 kilograms. Similarly sized regular cars weigh about a tonne. The 3D printing has meant a reduction of 70 percent in the cost. The 3D printing to produce the prototype took only a year for the design to become a reality whereas normally it can take up to five years.

The car will be available in Asia and Europe next year..

The 3D printed parts all are of Polymaker industrial materials

A website describing the Polymaker firm claims:Polymaker is a company committed to innovation, quality and sustainability, in the pursuit of producing safe and clean materials for the 3D printing industry. We do not simply adhere to current standards, but are surely becoming a market leader for quality in the filament industry. With a eight step quality control process, Polymaker’s filaments are not only guaranteed to have the best quality standards, but also provide innovative properties that help yield a better overall printing experience, ensuring the efficiency of 3D printers and empowering consumers to create strong, functional 3D printed products.

Printed previously in Digital Journal

Volkswagen to spend $84 billion on electric cars and batteries

German car manufacturer Volkswagen (VW) has announced that it will spend $84 billion on electric cars and batteries. The company made the announcement at a pre-Frankfurt Motor Show.

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Earlier in 2017, VW announced it would be investing $10 billion in electric vehicles (EVs) but it has obviously changed its investment strategy. A full $50 billion is being invested in battery production. Toyota, Tesla and others are also battling to be first to discover and adopt new battery technology as discussed in a recent Digital Journal article. The company hopes to create a vast range of different electric cars. Matthias Mueller, CEO of VW, said: “A company like Volkswagen must lead, not follow. We have got the message and we will deliver. This is not some vague declaration of intent. It is a strong self-commitment which, from today, becomes the yardstick by which we measure our performance.”

Last September at the Paris Auto Show, VW introduced its I.D. electric model but planned to put it on the market only by 2020. Earlier this year VW said that it wanted to overtake Tesla as the leader in production of electronic vehicles. As well as the three models of the I.D., VW intends to bring multiple EV's to market branded as Audis and Porsches. VW appears to attempting to change its image after the disaster of the diesel emissions scandal in September of 2015 VW announced it would spend $18.32 billion to rectify the issues and to refit all the vehicles affected as part of a recall campaign.

VW is the worlds' largest automaker by sales. The company claimed that it would roll out a whopping 80 new EV's across its multi-branded group of cars by 2025. Its previous goal had been thirty. CEO Mueller said that VW would be "setting the scene for the final breakthrough for e-mobility", The I.D. model is intended to be competition for Tesla's low end Model 3 that has a starting price of $35,000 and is already coming on the market. Daimler announced that Mercedes-Benz would be offering electric versions for all models by 2022. BMW has had 13 electric models since 2013 and was readying factories to mass produce EVs by 2022 and promised 12 purely electric models by 2025.

In many countries EV's constitute less than one percent of sales. Norway is far ahead of others at over 22 percent in 2015 even though it is in the north of Europe. By contrast in the same year EV's had only 0.73 percent of the market in Germany. This was better than the US at 0.66 percent. China was better than both at 0.84 percent. Canada was a mere 0.35 percent. As some countries plan bans on fossil fuel vehicles in the future, EV's will no doubt claim a much larger share of the market.

First 30 Tesla 3 models roll off assembly line and are bought by employees

Elon Musk the Chief Executive Officer of Tesla claimed that the electric car maker had already more than half a million advance reservations for the new Model 3 that is relatively inexpensive for a fully electric car.

Musk presented the first 30 units off the assembly line to employee buyers. The vehicle starts at a price of $35,000 U.S. and has a range of 350 kilometers on one charge.

The new model represents a significant change in company policy as earlier Tesla concentrated upon expensive luxury electric cars. While the models start out at $35,000 you have only the choice of the color black at that price. To have any other color it will cost you over $40,000. The $35,000 starting price does not include any government incentives. Musk said that he is confident that the Model 3 will turn out to be the best car in its class. Tesla's strategy is to become a profitable mass market electric car producer.

The Model 3 was first announced in March of 2016 and production started just this July. As well as producing electric cars, the Tesla company specializes in manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for energy storage, and they also produce solar panels through a subsidiary Solar City. Tesla has a network of high-powered Superchargers located across North America, Europe, and Asia, for charging Tesla vehicles. The batteries for Tesla vehicles are built at the Gigafactory 1 near Reno Nevada.

The Tesla company is named after the Serb-U.S. inventor and entrepreneur Nicola Tesla best known for the contributions he made to the supply of alternating current (AC) electricity systems. He had many ups and downs in his career losing out on risky business ventures more than once.

Musk admitted that his company was facing challenges during the early period of the production of the Model 3 as he told journalists: "We're going to go through at least six months of manufacturing hell." In April of 2016, there were already 373,000 advance reservations for the new model but as mentioned earlier this number is now over half a million.

Musk said that new buyers would not likely receive their cars until the end of 2018. A refundable $1,000 deposit is required to make a reservation. There is a Model 3 website where you can reserve your car or find out more information about the model. A more expensive version of the Model 3 starts at $44,000 U.S. but can travel up to 500 kilometers on a single charge. There are no buttons or knobs on the dashboard, but there is a 15 inch touchscreen display to the right of the driver.

To produce the 500,000 reserved vehicles next year Tesla would need a pace of production six times that in 2016. If it were actually to produce 500,000 cars in a year and sell them it would beat out, BMW, Mercedes or Lexus brands in the United States.

Tesla has faced delays and quality problems in production of earlier models. However, Musk says that the Model 3 has a simple design. Tesla has spent over $2 billion in 2017 ahead of this launch. A steady delivery of the vehicles could generate a much needed flow of cash that might allow the company to continue production without having to go to capital markets to raise more cash to keep afloat and fund its operations.

In anticipation of the launch of the new model, Tesla shares have risen 54 percent since this January resulting in a valuation of the company higher than that of auto giants, General Motors, and Ford Motor Co. Tesla's plan is not only to enter the mass market with electric cars, but to build a huge clean energy and transportation company that will produce electric semi-trucks, rooftop solar energy systems, and large-scale battery storage systems.