It’s just like my Yaris only maybe even cheaper.
Cars suck: They use a lot of gas, and they need to be built in factories out of metal. So 20th century. The Urbee (cute name, right?) could change all that: It’s a hybrid car that can go up to 110 miles an hour and carry over 1,200 pounds, and it’s made using a 3D printer.
The Urbee is made of very lightweight plastic, which means it needs less fuel, though for city use it uses an electric motor anyway. (For highway there’s a diesel-powered engine that can be converted to use ethanol.) It has a metal roll cage, so it’s also safer than it looks, though certainly, if you’re a stalwart Volvo driver, this is probably not your car.
Of course they haven’t actually perfected the thing yet (although they already have 14 orders) — it seems like everything to do with 3D printing is “about to happen” more than actually happening — but these intrepid Canadians at Kor Ecologic are getting somewhere. Here is a video wherein the project is described:
They seem like pretty alright guys. Founder Jim Kor’s goal is no less than “to build the world’s greenest car.” Which is why at the end of the video he asks you to send money, because the world’s greenest car might be just around the corner, but it is not going to build itself. Though honestly, 3D printing is as close to self-building as it gets these days.
