Arizona-based Local Motors turned to its crowd-sourcing roots for its latest endeavor — a road-worthy 3D-printed car. After selecting a winning design earlier this year from a pool of submissions, the company now is preparing to build and sell its first printed car model, the $53,000 LM3D Swim.
The company selected the Swim design submitted by Ken Lo of Portland, Oregon in July of this year and built a prototype version of the car in September. Almost 75 percent of the car is 3D printed using a blend of 80 percent ABS plastic and 20 percent carbon fiber. And these parts, which include the body panels and other aesthetic components, are customizable, allowing owners to create cars that share the same underlying power train, but look radically different.
Local Motors has a lot of experience building cars, even 3D-printed ones. The company made a name for itself with the Rally Fighter, a crowd-sourced off-road vehicle that looks someone bolted a Camaro body on the frame of a jacked-up Ford F150. With the success of the the Rally Fighter under its belt, Local Motors then did a 360 and started pursuing the concept of 3D-printed cars.
At the 2014 International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago and this year’s Detroit Auto Show, the company 3D printed a version of its full-sized sporty Strati model. The Strati was built using an electric power train sourced from a Renault Twizya and required only 40 total parts for assembly. It was printed on the show floor in approximately 44 hours.
While the Strati served as a demonstration car, the LM3D Swim will be the first 3D-printed car to hit the highways. Local Motors will begin accepting deposits for the LM3D via a crowdfunding campaign that is expected to open some time in the second quarter of 2016. The company is on track to have crash testing and all other safety certifications completed by the end of 2016, when it will make the car available publicly via retail channels. Once production begins, the company has the capacity to produce up to 2,400 LM3D cars annually.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.