Additive Reality Check

I attended the rapid + tct show early in May, and while there I saw a lot of impressive new technology—automation solutions, new software, large-scale printers. You can read about in our Road Trip section this issue.

I also sat in on several conference sessions. One in particular stood out—a presentation by Sona Dadhania, Technology Analyst at IDTechEx, on additive manufacturing for electric vehicles. At an event where there is a significant amount of (deserved) cheerleading for additive manufacturing, her session was a refreshingly frank, almost contrarian look at just how far the technology has to go to gain a foothold in traditional manufacturing.

She noted that additive manufacturing is appealing for the EV market because it can potentially provide lightweighting benefits, part consolidation and customization, and could be more easily adopted because EV supply chains are not nearly as established (or calcified) as some traditional automotive chains.

However, there are a number of obstacles for the technology to overcome. First, the price point for AM is still not competitive compared to machining, casting and molding, even with the weight savings taken into account. “If additive results in parts that require more post-processing,” she added, “then many EV makers might prefer to keep the part as is, especially since a barrier to EV adoption is their high cost.”

There are also challenges to scaling some AM processes to volume production; pre-existing biases in the manufacturing chain that may inhibit adoption; material and supply chain resiliency concerns; and issues with part quality and consistency.

That said, prototyping and tooling remain strong applications for additive manufacturing in traditional and EV applications—additive provides speed and flexibility that is not possible with traditional tooling/molding processes, and prototype parts can be quickly built and tested.

It was interesting to hear that, even in an emerging sector like EV production, which would seem like a good bet in terms of adopting new technologies, additive manufacturing faces an uphill battle for adoption.

That can change, of course. At the show, Kevin Czinger from Divergent talked up his own company’s production process, which marries AM with robotic assembly, and is already being adopted by several OEMs on a contract basis. Right now, they are targeting high-end vehicles, so the price is not as big of an issue. I think 3D printing in the EV space will likely take off where it can address unique problems in the EV value chain.

But there are cultural barriers as well. As Dadhania pointed out, OEMs tend to be risk averse. “They will try to utilize whatever current technologies they are using, and force those into EVs first,” she said.

On an unrelated note, Digital Engineering will once again present its virtual Design & Simulation Summit on Oct. 26, 2023. You can learn more about it here.