An environmentally kind car, partly done using 3D copy technology, has vanished on uncover in Canada.
The Urbee uses electric motors, corroborated up by a tiny ethanol-powered engine, and is able of 200mpg.
Although the van has been in growth for a few years, its full printed body bombard has never been seen publicly before.
Only one Urbee now exists, but its makers hope to go in to blurb prolongation by 2014.
The use of "additive manufacturing", where layers of element are built up, or "printed" to form a plain objects, contributed to the car's immature credentials, according to plan personality Jim Kor.
"One usually puts element where one needs it," explained Mr Kor, who denounced his van at the TEDxWinnipeg conference.
"It is an addition process, office building the segment basically one 'molecule' of element at a time, eventually with no waste.
"This routine can do many materials, and the objective would be to use fully-recycled materials."
Currently it is usually the Urbee's body panels that are printed - by Minneapolis-based Stratasys. However, Mr Kor mentioned he hoped that other tools would be constructed this way in future.
Typically 3D copy is used for prototyping - creation one-off versions of things as segment of the product pattern process.
However, it is increasingly being mooted as a answer for distributing earthy objects without the need for shipping.
Among the many fields approaching to welcome the technology is the medical profession, with apparatus and even prosthetic body tools potentially being printed.
"This routine could change how you make things. It has of course altered my way of considering about manufacturing," mentioned Mr Kor.
He sharp out that the same P.C. files used to make pocket-sized prototypes of the Urbee were used to produce the full size version.
"This way, you knew the large panels would all fit properly," he added.
Underneath its aerodynamic shell, the Urbee is written to accomplish limit effectiveness with minimum input.
Its tiny singular cylinder engine generates just 8 horsepower, but is able of reaching between 60 and 70 mpg.
As good as charging its batteries from the bio-ethanol motor, it can moreover pull electrical assign from inbuilt solar panels, potentially shortening fuel expenditure to zero.
Far from being a extravagant experiment, similar to some "hyper mile" vehicles, the firm developing Urbee, Kor EcoLogic, insists that it could turn a viable runaround for normal people.
Estimated prices operation from $10,000 (6,500) - $50,000 (33,000) depending on either the Urbee can accomplish pile production.
Mr Kor is confident about timescales: "I think the best-case unfolding would be 2014."
"This would be the initial practical, roadworthy automobile that could run on solely renewable energy," he said.
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