World’s First 3D Printed Electric Motorbike With Metal Powder

The Light Rider is an electric motorbike that admittedly, smaller than your standard Airbus vehicle, though before a aerospace hulk 3D prints half a destiny aeroplane fleet, this 3D printed motorcycle, denounced currently in Ottobrunn, Germany, demonstrates usually because Airbus and APWorks have so most faith in a intensity of Scalmalloy, a custom aluminum super alloy powder ‘with almost the specific strength of titanium’ that the company uses to build incredible structures though fusing thin layers of the material together.

The result, called Light Rider, looks amazing. APWorks says it will go 80km/h (50 mph) and run from 0-45km/h in 3 seconds, that keeps this fully out of superbike territory — think of this as a lightweight, street-legal runabout which just happens to look unlike anything else on the road. The battery is swappable and offers 60 km on a charge. The Light Rider isn’t ready for cheap mass production, but it’s not far off: the company will build 50 of them for €50,000 ($56,100) apiece, probably more as an advertisement of APWorks’ component fabrication capabilities than anything else.

The Light Rider weighs just 77 pounds and has a frame like an alien skeleton. It’s creator, Airbus subsidiary APWorks, crafted the bike with 3D printing — but it’s not plastic. The hollow frame is aircraft-grade aluminum and it takes shape via thousands of thin metal layers produced in a bed of metal powder.

If you are in the market, you may want to act fast — there are only 50 of these to go around, after all. APWorks is taking €2,000 ($2,200) deposits right now.