·Common with Autodesk will use 3D printed parts

According to foreign media reports, GM said on May 3, local time, the company is working with design software company Autodesk to produce new, lightweight 3D printed parts to help GM achieve the goal of adding alternative fuel vehicles.

In 2017, GM announced plans to add 20 new pure electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles to its global product line by 2023. GM CEO Mary Barra has promised investors that GM will make electric cars profitable in 2021.

Just this week, GM executives demonstrated a 3D printed stainless steel seat bracket developed using Autodesk technology that uses cloud computing and artificial intelligence-based algorithms to quickly find different alignments for design components. If using traditional technology, the seat bracket requires 8 parts and several suppliers. However, under the new system, the seat bracket requires only one component and is 40% lighter and 20% stronger.

In fact, GM began using 3D printing technology on prototypes a few years ago. According to Kevin Quinn, head of GM's additive design and production, new 3D printed parts will be used in high-end racing cars in the next year or so. As technology continues to advance, GM expects to produce tens of thousands of 3D printed parts on a large scale in the next five years.

For the electric vehicle industry, printing lightweight parts will "change the rules of the game." At present, in the promotion of electric vehicles, consumers' concerns about limited cruising range are a major obstacle, and the lighter vehicle can not only improve fuel economy, but also extend the cruising range of vehicles. Quinn pointed out that in the long run, 3D printed parts will help reduce processing costs as well as logistics costs, material usage and number of suppliers. Bob Yancey, director of production at Autodesk, said that manufacturing based on 3D printing technology is working hard on vector production, and GM's participation will bring a lot of pressure to this goal.

In addition to general purpose, companies such as General Electric have also increased the use of 3D printing in production. Last year, Ford said it was testing lightweight 3D printing technology for mass production.