This Batshit Sports Car Was 3D Printed From Laser-Melted Metal

By Michael Nunez on at

The hype around consumer 3D printers has mostly died down, but that hasn’t stopped the startup Divergent3D from barrelling full steam ahead in the industrial printing world. The company debuted the first 3D-printed supercar—the Blade–two years ago and has since continued developing its printing methods. Now, it’s working with major industry players like Peugeot and SLM Solutions to use its printing methods at mass scale.

The reason why Divergent3D is so committed to industrial printing (despite the ridiculously high and costly risks) is that the benefits of printing car parts appears to be obvious: Printing components, rather than stamping them out using traditional injection moulding or casting, lets carmakers customise every detail of a car part. It also lets engineers turn out ideas more quickly. Printing car components, at least in theory, will reduce the cost of retooling factory machines every time an engineer wants to try out a new idea. That will hopefully lead to more adventurous and more ambitious projects—exactly like The Blade.

One of the big benefits to Divergent3D’s printing methods is that it allows engineers to customise car components, essentially giving them even greater control over how a car is assembled. For example, they can add more material to specific stress points or leave holes in areas where it’s possible to reduce weight (something that makes the car way faster). The benefits can often be startling. That’s why The Blade’s chassis is only 635 kilos—about three times lighter than a Tesla Model S.

Because of these advantages, carmaker Peugeot has finally jumped on the 3D-printing bandwagon. The $12.8 billion partnership between Peugeot and Divergent3D is basically just the first step in a slow march for major carmakers that will more than likely take many years to be used widespread.




Of course, this will all change as long as companies like Divergent3D continue developing new partnerships and methods to increase reliability. Much like desktop printers, industrial-sized ones will also get faster. The materials will also become more reliable as companies begin to adopt these new methods.

It might be a long time from now, but if Divergent3D—and other companies like it—keep refining this technology, it’s hard to imagine why the biggest players in the car world wouldn’t want to adopt this production method in some capacity.
