Ford Turns to SLA and SLS 3D Printing for the Electric Explorer – 3Dnatives

“Ford, one of the largest car manufacturers in the world, has set itself an ambitious goal: The company is aiming to have an all-electric passenger vehicle lineup in the EU by 2030. Leading the way in this initiative is the new Ford Electric Explorer, whose prototypes were produced using SLS and SLA 3D printers from Formlabs.”

While the 3D printers that manufacturers use are often “higher end”, I think it still helps buoy the whole 3D Print community, and starts to bring the technology much deeper into the mainstream.

You may have noticed a theme if you have been reading some of my posts – I strongly believe that 3D Print Technology ( or other makersphere tech) is starting to bring back a groundswell of local craftmanship. I also think that the accessibility of devices like these to the masses spur creativity and innovation. I am looking forward to the potential of hyper local manufacturing!

Hopefully we will start to see folks like Ford start to publish their designs for some of these parts so replacements can be printed closer to and / or by their customer.