Porsche has been incorporating Additive Manufacturing into their product development process for some time now and have also worked on some test cases. Like producing parts for its inventory of classic cars, testing 3D printed seats and pistons where they have seen massive improvements in manufacturing time over the conventional process.
While Additive Manufacturing may not be ready yet to be used as a mass production technology in the automotive industry it is definitely providing some advantages. Recently Porsche printed an entire housing for an electric drive unit with Additive Manufacturing. This 3D printed electric drive housing has been found to be lighter, stiffer and easier to cool.
“This proves that additive manufacturing with all its advantages is also suitable for larger and highly stressed components in electric sports cars,” says Falk Heilfort, Project Manager, Powertrain Advance Development department at the Porsche Development Centre in Weissach.
The unit is designed to be used on the front axle of an EV and has passed all of Porsche’s quality and stress tests, however with the current technology limitations only available to be built in small numbers. In the meantime we look forward to seeing a Porsche hyper-EV with this kind of technology soon !!
