Lighter vehicles, increased speed to market and supply chain resilience

EV manufacturers are under pressure to accelerate product development cycles, control production costs and create aesthetically pleasing designs. These needs align perfectly with the capabilities of additive manufacturing, as it streamlines every step of the design and manufacturing process, from prototyping to bridge production and spare parts.

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Key Additive Manufacturing Applications for EV Manufacturing

  • Luxury Car Interior

  • Body Interior/Dashboard Components

    Intricate designs are where 3D printing a perfect fit to produce the curves and graduated angles used on vehicle dashboards and interior parts. Advanced SLA materials withstand temperature variations experienced inside of the vehicle while maintaining mechanical and aesthetic properties.

  • EV Battery

  • Battery Housings and Electronic Board Enclosures

    Advancements in materials allow for higher heat deflection and flame retardancy which makes 3D Printing an ideal solution for battery housings and electrodes. Complex designs can be redesigned to fit constrained spaces and the high impact strength of new materials can withstand vibrations and forces that affect vehicles

  • dmp laserform 316L-B lamellar heat exchanger cut CAD

  • Heat Exchangers and Thermal Management

    3D printing is emerging as a preferred method for producing heat exchangers and optimizing conformal cooling. Cooling channels are challenging to create by traditional methods because they often vary in depth and width — and they curl across the surface of the part. Constraints around challenging geometries such as diamond, elliptical or teardrop shapes can be easily overcome with additive manufacturing.

  • Connectors and Wiring Management

    EV vehicles include almost twice as many connectors as ICE vehicles, which makes 3D printing even more attractive for its ability to support optimal connector functionality. This is especially true for custom designs and wire harness management components like retention items, customized splitters and special conduit fittings.

  • automotive-powertrain-chassis-electric-hybrid-car-web

  • Metal Structural Components

    3D printing is being rapidly adopted for manufacturing metal structural components because it allows engineers to design and test high-performance, lightweight structural systems in shorter timeframes, reducing inertia while increasing overall strength when optimizing metal structural components for electric vehicles.

Application Innovation Group

Need more hands-on support? Our Application Innovation Group is here to help! This team of engineers and experts has decades of experience across all technologies and broad experience in different industries to provide state-of-the-art solutions that are tailored to your needs.

Our team can help you solve your most difficult design and production challenges with additive manufacturing solutions. Together we’ll identify your needs, working with you to optimize designs, then provide a seamless process from prototyping to validation to manufacturing.

Learn More About Our Application Innovation Group

Accelerate Your Path from Concept to Commercialization

Materials Webinar: Data-led Testing for Production

Listen in on a Q&A with materials expert, Marty Johnson, to answer these questions and more:

  • What do the data outputs really mean? 
  • What are the conditions of industry standard tests? 
  • How do I compare data in long term stability testing?
  • What impact does post-processing make?

Watch Now

A person twisting a 3D printed part made from DuraForm PAx Natural

Explore Our Automotive Expertise

  • Underhood powertrain webinar landing page

    Optimize Flexible Component Retention Earlier

    The complex inner workings of modern vehicles require various electrical, energy, and fluid transfers throughout the chassis, body, and interior which involves routing through limited packaging spaces and challenging operational environments. 

    Download the application brief to learn: 

    • The benefits of using additive manufacturing for component retention 
    • Expert design for additive manufacturing tips to achieve optimized part performance  
    • Critical success factors when bringing on additive manufacturing 

    Download Application Brief
  • automotive-webinar-series-body-interior-landing-page

    Deliver Design Intent Interior Experience Earlier

    Find out how AM can accelerate interior vehicle design, testing and validation, ultimately reducing costs. Explore how 3D printing can now produce Class A surfaces with perfect grain match. 

    Watch Webinar
  • EV advancements

    Roundtable: Advancements in the Design and Manufacturing of EVs

    Panelists will offer exclusive insights and discuss:

    • The state of EV/AV markets
    • Aerospace updates on urban transport and drones
    • Growth opportunities in eMobility
    • Balancing production of powertrain parts with eMobility components
    Watch Now

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NoSupports enables metal powder-bed printing without support structures.

Powered by 3DXpert software, NoSupports expands the design envelope, accelerates design cycles, and unlocks new applications. 

Explore AM Technologies for EV

Stereolithography (SLA)
MultiJet Printing (MJP)
Direct Metal Printing (DMP)
Figure 4
Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)

Stereolithography (SLA)

Stereolithography (SLA) is the first commercialized 3D printing technology, invented by 3D Systems' Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Chuck Hull in the 1980s.

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SLA 750 3D printer interior showing it's Laser Scanning Technology

MultiJet Printing (MJP)

MultiJet Printing (MJP) is an inkjet printing process that uses piezo printhead technology to deposit either photocurable plastic resin or casting wax materials, layer-by-layer.

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ProJet MJP 2500W 3D printer from the front

Direct Metal Printing

Direct metal printing (DMP), is an additive manufacturing technology that builds high quality complex metal parts from 3D CAD data. In the machine, a high precision laser is directed to metal powder particles to selectively build up thin horizontal metal layers one after the other. 

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DMP Build Laser

Figure 4

Figure 4® delivers ultra-fast additive manufacturing technology with systems that offer the expandable capacity to meet your present and future needs. With access to a range of innovative materials, Figure 4 enables tool-less alternatives to traditional injection molding or urethane casting processes with direct digital production of precision plastic parts, as well as ultra-fast same-day rapid prototyping.

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High Density Part Stacking Figure 4

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is a powder-based 3D printing technology that uses a laser to fuse material layers into a final part. The laser traces the pattern of each cross section of a 3D design onto a bed of powder. After one layer is built, the build platform lowers and another layer is built on top of the previous layer. This process continues until every layer is built and the part is complete.

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A person dusting off an SLS 3D printed part

  • Application Innovation Group

    Our team can help you solve your most difficult design and production challenges with additive manufacturing solutions. Together we’ll identify your needs, working with you to optimize your designs, prototype, validate and define a manufacturing flow.
    Find Out More