In his series on future cars, Ed Bernardon discusses what will happen to today\u2019s cars and the challenges that will come with these new cars. In his introduction, Bernardon explored how today\u2019s cars could meet the same fate as horses<\/A>. He looked at the new ethical and technical challenges<\/A> designers will face. And, he pointed out some changes that will certainly disrupt business strategies<\/A> in the automotive industry.<\/EM><\/P><\/p>\n In the first part of his conversation with Forward Engineering\u2019s Georg K\u00e4smeier, Bernardon and K\u00e4smeier discussed the challenges automotive companies face with lightweight, composite materials<\/A>. Here, they continue their look at composite materials and also discuss the 3D printed Olli Bus and the impact these kinds of vehicles will have on engineers.<\/EM><\/P><\/p>\n Ed Bernardon: There\u2019s no doubt that we live in interesting times when it comes to the automotive industry; as you mentioned, differential and integrated, mixed materials versus consolidated parts and use of composite [materials] to potentially build intelligence right into the structure.<\/STRONG><\/P><\/p>\n Recently, you were involved with Local Motors and the Olli bus project, probably one of the most advanced project in this area that\u2019s taking a big step toward what we may see in the future.<\/STRONG><\/P><\/p>\n Are there any interesting examples you can tell us about from that project that starts to show us where we may be headed in the future? <\/STRONG><\/P><\/p>\n Georg K\u00e4smeier: Yeah. If you think about 3D printing and industrial production, if this technique will get developed more and more to a state-of-the-art process, then we\u2019ll for sure be talking about disruptive innovation<\/A> and a disruptive technology. <\/P><\/p>\n I think the first topic, as I mentioned were more like in the midterm perspective within the next couple of years. In parallel, we\u2019ll see some that there are some disruptive topics coming up. And of course, we also have our eye on that to try to get good feeling when is the time right and how to use these technologies in new, innovative automotive products.<\/P><\/p>\n For sure, one of the most potential technique will be 3D printing<\/A>, as it allows you a lot of design freedom. And it allows you, also, a lot of new ways for producing cars, and also to shorten your development time. This will be a very new topic for the whole value chain, beginning from the first concept draft.<\/P><\/p>\n Designers will have to learn how to work with that type of material and that type of process. So, young designers must think completely different for how to design cars, and must also work close with engineers and the technical guys. And, engineers will have to work close with material and process developers.<\/P><\/p>\n So, really to get the potential out of this process, it must involve a lot of people different type of people working collaboratively, and this is also what we try to make our customers understand: that working with plastics, that working with new materials is always about sharing ideas, working openly on new ideas. And then you can really get to a new solution.<\/P><\/p>\n So, the 3D printing is one of these disruptive technologies. Working with Local Motors was a great experience here to see how we can use that process they invented and they run in their microfactories.<\/P><\/p>\n As we supported the development of the Olli bus<\/A>, it was a great chance, also, to get in touch and to implement this 3D printing process in the car body and a lightweight structure. I think we ended up with a very nice solution and showed what is possible here. <\/P><\/p>\n This is, for sure, another milestone of many other milestones which might come afterwards. It\u2019s always learning from one step to the next and improving a young technology. And there\u2019s still so, so much potential on the material side, on the process side, on the development skills and the software which is needed.<\/P><\/p>\n So, this is always working with new materials and processes. It\u2019s always like you feel like an inventor. You have to think about how can we cover our existing tools and development process, which is not state of the art yet, and this is especially what we bring to the table as we have an experienced team and we\u2019re working with new processes and materials \u2013 how to come to a point where solutions can get produced and prototyped. This is exactly what we could do with Local Motors. This was a very nice showcase. <\/P><\/p>\n EB: When you see something \u2013 a technology like the Olli bus \u2013 it certainly builds excitement as to what\u2019s possible. It makes you think, \u201cSomeday, maybe I\u2019ll have a 3D printed car.\u201d<\/STRONG><\/P><\/p>\n What do you think are the barriers that\u2019s going to keep this technology from being widely accepted, say by the large OEMs? How long do you think it takes to go from an initial project like this that starts to prove the technology is viable, to when we\u2019ll start see incorporation of technologies like 3D printing and composite [materials] in cars that all of us drive day-to-day? <\/STRONG><\/P><\/p>\n GK: Oh, that\u2019s really a tough question, because talking about timelines with new technologies \u2013 I think I have to look in the past.<\/P><\/p>\n For example, the last really new material in the automotive industry was the aluminum approach<\/A>, which started in the 90s and is now still not everywhere. So, it\u2019s getting more and more accepted, but it took at least 20 to 30 years to get to a certain level where you can really say it\u2019s state-of-the-art and every car maker can decide between steel and aluminum.<\/P><\/p>\n So, as we understand that producing mass production cars is heavily dependent on long-term investments and the type of mega facilities. They all plan for several generations of cars, so if a technology is set, it\u2019s set for maybe 20 years. So it\u2019s not that easy to jump in with a new technology and expect that in five years, it will be state-of-the-art everywhere. <\/P><\/p>\n Of course, always, headed by demonstration projects and some companies who show some innovations and maybe also demonstrated by some components. So maybe we see some 3D printed seats, or maybe we see 3D printed suspension systems if the mechanical properties are in there in the materials.<\/P><\/p>\n Maybe we see these types of components first because they can be provided by these suppliers, these T1 suppliers. So the suppliers are more flexible as they are already focused on certain materials and processes than the OEM itself.<\/P><\/p>\n![\"Image](\"http:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2019\/09\/Image-1-3.png\" "\\"Image")
The Olli bus is an example of what’s possible with 3D printing car bodies and lightweight structures.<\/span><\/span><\/P>
\n![\"Image](\"http:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2019\/09\/Image-2-1.png\" "\\"Image")
Automakers could adopt new technologies and composite materials for components of cars first before using them in the whole process.<\/span><\/span>So for sure, we have to think about new technologies. We see all of it with composite materials with a time perspective of maybe 20 to 30 years, which is still fast in comparison to some other industries, like the aerospace or aviation industry<\/A>. So I think this is a more realistic timeframe.<\/P><\/p>\n
![\"Image](\"http:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2019\/09\/Image-3-1.png\" "\\"Image")