How Porsche Created the World’s First 3D-Printed EV Drive Housing 21 Dec 2020, 14:21 UTC ·
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The feat was made possible by engineers at Porsche’s Advanced Development department who were experimenting with building methods that would result in lighter parts than those conventionally cast.
Taking advantage of the structural layout offered by additive laser 3D printing, they increased the stiffness in highly stressed areas, resulting in a housing that is approximately 30% lighter but perfectly capable of passing all the quality and stress tests without any issues.
Another major advantage of using this manufacturing method is that various functions and parts can be integrated, drastically reducing the assembly work and increasing the quality of the components.
Porsche produces prototype complete housing for an electric drive using 3D printing
Porsche has produced its first complete housing for an electric drive using 3D printing. The engine-gearbox unit produced using the additive laser fusion process passed all the quality and stress tests without any problems.
This proves that additive manufacturing with all its advantages is also suitable for larger and highly-stressed components in electric sports cars. Falk Heilfort, Project Manager in the Powertrain Advance Development department at the Porsche Development Center in Weissach
The optimized electric drive potentially could be used in a limited-edition super sports car.
Engineers in the Advanced Development department were able to carry out several development steps at once with the prototype. The additively manufactured alloy housing is more lightweight than a conventionally cast part, and reduces the overall weight of the drive by approximately 10%.
Porsche has built its first ever complete housing for an electric drive unit (engine and gearbox) using 3D printing. The unit even passed quality and stress tests without any issues, proving that this technology is viable for consumer products.
The prototype unit’s additively-manufactured alloy housing is more lightweight than a conventionally cast part, reducing the overall weight of the drive by roughly ten percent.
Meanwhile, stiffness in highly stressed areas has nevertheless been doubled, thanks to special structures made possible by 3D printing.
“This proves that additive manufacturing with all its advantages is also suitable for larger and highly-stressed components in electric sports cars,” said Falk Heilfort, Project Manager in the Powertrain Advance Development department at the Porsche Development Centre in Weissach.