XEV LSEV, the customizable electric car that is 3D-printed in three days

New times, new mobility,… and new manufacturing methods. Producing a car is no longer what it used to be, thanks to the new methods that 3D printers make possible, and this is going to lead to the emergence of innovative models like this electric XEV LSEV for…8,000 euros!

What you see there is not a Smart, although it looks very much like one, both in its size and its shape. An Italian startup, Polymaker, belonging to JAC Motors, a Hong Kong manufacturer associated with Polymaker, wants to market the XEV from 2019 in both Asia and Europe. The XEV LSEV is a two-seater city car, 2.5 m long, 1.3 m high and 1.5 m wide, with a weight of barely 450 kilos.

It is a vehicle equipped with two small electric motors, each one connected to one of the wheels of the rear axle. To move, the vehicle is powered exclusively by energy from its batteries, whose capacity gives it a range of up to 150 km at a top speed of 70 km/h, enough range and performance to cover the usual daily journey in a city. That said, such performance makes it an exclusively urban vehicle.

Although its performance is not especially attractive, the LSEV is drawing a lot of attention for its other features, which certainly make it something special. First of all, there is its peculiar production method. The LSEV does not come off a conventional assembly line, so to speak. You can see its assembly process in the video that accompanies this information.

It starts with a modular tubular chassis, on which both the car’s interiors and the parts that make up its bodywork are mounted. What is truly interesting is that all of them are produced using advanced 3D printing systems. The entire process needed to produce the LSEV takes barely 3 days, which certainly makes it feasible to produce it at scale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llqAvDLjVCw

Another of its peculiarities is its wide capacity for transformation. Being printed parts, the LSEV is easily configurable “exactly” to the taste of its owner, since the decoration and colour of the vehicle’s exterior finish will be an integral part of the piece, as it is printed using 3D technology. Since only the chassis, seats and windows are produced conventionally, with the rest made by printers, it also allows special configurations for the interior cabin, “tailored” to the customer’s needs, provided, of course, they fit the car’s limited dimensions.

The production of parts using 3D printing systems is not new. Groups such as Volkswagen or Daimler have been using this system for some time, especially to produce specific parts for historic vehicles of their respective brands. In this way they experiment and improve the processes with a view to a future introduction of the system into their production lines, where some specific parts or components are already manufactured this way. Others, such as Porsche, have even tried printing wheels.

The LSEV’s most direct rival, a priori and in terms of its dimensions and exterior look, would be the Smart Fortwo, although that car nearly doubles its performance. If we stick to performance, and also to price, the rival would undoubtedly be the Renault Twizy. The LSEV’s price would also be particularly affordable, as the production units would be offered at around 8,000 euros. That does not mean the car cannot have quite striking and sophisticated, and, why not say it, futuristic equipment, such as the peculiar information screen that forms its rear window (see video).

For the time being, production of the model has not yet begun. To date, only the test unit shown in the videos we are offering has been produced. What cannot be denied is that the car is attracting attention, since, without even having set up its XEV production centre, its manufacturer claims to have already received 7,000 orders from two European companies that want this type of vehicle in their respective corporate fleets.