Photo: Local Motors
Forging history is the right way of describing what Valley company Local Motors is preparing for the future of mankind. After Tesla Motors made mainstream manufacturers get in the EV trend, Local Motors goes one step beyond with the 3D-printed car. And good golly – the first street-legal units of the Local Motors Reload Redacted are slated to be delivered in no later than 2016.
It was April 2014 when Local Motors kicked off the 3D Printed Car Design Challenge, a crowdsourcing to assist in the production of what the label reads. In collaboration with Cincinnati Incorporated and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Local Motors Strati 3D-printed electric vehicle came to life. The first prototype took 44 hours to print from the bottom up during the 2014 International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago.
Fast-forward a year later and here we are today, with Local Motors announcing that the first pre-orders for the Strati's successor are slated to happen on Indiegogo in October. The Chandler-based company's car is based on a design dubbed Reload Redacted, made by Kevin Lo of Portland.
You could say that Local Motors CEO Jay Rogers is the type of guy that abides by the following words: "I've got the machines and money, you've got the brains, now let's make this thing happen." This open-source mentality has all the makings of a revolution in the mainstream auto world, no doubt about that.
According to the company, their 3D-printed car will be available in at least two flavors. Known as the Local Motors Reload Redacted, customers will be offered the low-speed Swim model for a price between $18,000 and $30,000. The highway-oriented 2+2 coupe variant known as the Sport will cost around $50,000.
We're told that between the two models, only the body sides are swappable. There's no word on the powertrain at the present moment. While the Strati is an all-electric affair, the Reload Redacted is slated to received a gasoline-fed motor. Will you be pre-ordering one of the vehicles featured in the adjacent gallery?
Fast-forward a year later and here we are today, with Local Motors announcing that the first pre-orders for the Strati's successor are slated to happen on Indiegogo in October. The Chandler-based company's car is based on a design dubbed Reload Redacted, made by Kevin Lo of Portland.
You could say that Local Motors CEO Jay Rogers is the type of guy that abides by the following words: "I've got the machines and money, you've got the brains, now let's make this thing happen." This open-source mentality has all the makings of a revolution in the mainstream auto world, no doubt about that.
According to the company, their 3D-printed car will be available in at least two flavors. Known as the Local Motors Reload Redacted, customers will be offered the low-speed Swim model for a price between $18,000 and $30,000. The highway-oriented 2+2 coupe variant known as the Sport will cost around $50,000.
We're told that between the two models, only the body sides are swappable. There's no word on the powertrain at the present moment. While the Strati is an all-electric affair, the Reload Redacted is slated to received a gasoline-fed motor. Will you be pre-ordering one of the vehicles featured in the adjacent gallery?
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