Meet the Urbee: A Canadian car made by a 3D printer
Seamus O'Regan | CTV News
Note from editor: On Wednesday's edition of Canadian Originals on CTV National News, Seamus O'Regan brings us the story of the Urbee -- a futuristic car designed by Kor Ecologic.
It looks like a vehicle from a Hollywood science fiction movie, and the way it's created seems equally fantastic: The body of the car is "printed" using a 3D graphics program.
Do you know a 'Canadian Original' we should be featuring? Please email us your ideas at originals@bellmedia.ca.
Here is Seamus's blog:
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Imagine a car that's so fuel efficient, you can drive from Edmonton to Calgary on a single gallon of gas, and its body is made using a 3D printer that leaves zero waste.
Well, it exists and it's called the Urbee. And it isn't made in Silicon Valley, Detroit or Tokyo: it comes from Winnipeg.
"Fifteen years ago I had a dream to design the urban vehicle of the future," designer Jim Kor told me for tonight's ‘Canadian Originals' report.
The result is a sleek, futuristic machine that cuts through the air like an arrow, and looks like a prop from a Hollywood science fiction film. But its gas-electric hybrid engine is real, and helps make the Urbee one of the most efficient cars in the world.
How efficient? Well, on the highway you could travel about 320 kilometres on a single gallon of gas. That translates to a mileage rating of about 200 mpg. Compare that to the Toyota Prius, one of the top-selling hybrid cars in Canada -- it has a highway rating of 71 mpg.
"Every part of it has been designed to reduce the energy of movement," Kor told me.
I also found the Urbee surprisingly comfortable. You'll see video of the car in action tonight, but here's footage of a recent test drive to give you an idea:
Perhaps more surprising than how the car looks, or what's under its hood, is how it's made.
To make it as environmentally friendly as possible, the Urbee was printed – not with ink, obviously, but spools of hot plastic that form the car's panels. (The frame itself is metal). There's no wasted material; the printer uses just the right amount of plastic needed. And it's amazingly durable!
"It's 3D-printed on a machine that got quite a bit of attention," Kor said.
And here's something that Canadians will especially like: the designers are making it tough enough for winter. After all, it's designed in Winnipeg.
"We know about winter, so we've designed it to handle these kinds of conditions," Kor said.
The design team hopes to have the Urbee on the road in 2014. Let's hope they reach that goal, and we can all drive a Canadian Original.
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