Boosting performance of the Fun Utility Vehicle thanks to 3D printing

In industrial sectors such as automotive, additive manufacturing has an important role to play in designing optimized parts that improve vehicles’ performance. Thanks to design for additive manufacturing techniques, lightweight parts that don’t lose in strength can be fabricated. A new partnership in this space has emerged between XponentialWorks and Arcimoto to design and fabricate lightweight components for Arcimoto’s Fun Utility Vehicle, making their vehicles more environmentally friendly.

The Fun Utility Vehicle from Arcimoto is a three-wheeled electric vehicle that aims to raise the bar for environmentally efficiency, footprint and affordability. “We are thrilled to open Arcimoto’s ultra-efficient vehicle platform to XponentialWorks’ team of lightweighting and additive manufacturing experts,” explained Arcimoto CEO Mark Frohnmayer. “Our mission to rightsize the footprint of daily mobility means a continued commitment to optimizing not just the vehicle platform architecture, but all of its constituent parts as well.”

Parts were optimized on CogniCAD software thanks to design for additive manufacturing techniques

Their mission is to create 3D printed parts that will replace traditionally manufactured ones that are heavier than they could be. Designing these lighter parts was achieved thanks to XponentialWorks’ expertise in artificial intelligence and generative design and ParaMatter’s solution, CogniCAD software. Their unique technology was used to redesign and fabricate new parts with geometries that mimic natural structures. Imitating forms found in nature has been employed by many manufacturers to achieve performance and sustainability.