ETH Zurich and Sintratec build a sustainable 3D printed motorcycle

Nowadays, additive manufacturing is often used to create parts for all kinds of vehicles, be it a sports car, a bicycle, or an aircraft. The latest news is about a project that aims to change the mobility of tomorrow by making it more sustainable. It is led by students from ETH Zurich and is called ETHEC city. To face the challenges of climate change and sustainability, the team developed a 3D printed electric motorcycle with an ingenious two-wheel drive that saves energy and improves the range.

The technical lead of the ETHEC city project, Tobias Oesch, studies mechanical engineering at the ETH Zurich. His team took up the challenge to develop a prototype of a 3D printed electric motorcycle in just one year – from concept to construction, assembly, and testing. Tobias was motivated to tackle one of today’s main issues of the automotive sector: sustainability. «Motorcycles are more efficient than common cars, but we barely see all-electric motorcycles on our streets – that has to change.»

The casing of the front display was 3D printed with SLS. (All image credits: Sintratec)

Developing a sustainable 3D printed motorcycle

In common motorcycles around 80% of the energy is lost right at the front wheel, which leads to electrical vehicles with significantly shorter ranges. Therefore, the ETH Zurich team decided to integrate an electric motor in the front wheel as well, so that it can be used as a generator to recuperate the whole movement energy back into the system again! By recovering the braking power with a two-hub motor, it becomes possible to reach longer distances with a smaller battery, thereby drastically improving the efficiency of the motorcycle. For the students, the project is part of a bigger picture: “The ETHEC city is primarily a research prototype for us to investigate this recuperation method and thus improve the e-mobility sector in the future.”