Off-Topic, On-Trend: 3D-Printed Cars Are Coming!

3D printing is big news these days. Though there are still plenty of kinks to work out, the technology promises to upend the way that many things are produced, from clothing and furniture to food and medicine.

Also on that list: cars. As Fast Company reports, a start-up called Divergent Microfactories is trying to take the lead on that front:

“If there’s ever going to be a change in the automotive industry, it has to start with how car chassis are built,” says Divergent Microfactories CEO Kevin Czinger. “Chassis manufacture is where the real materials, energy, and capital are invested.”

Building a typical car involves massive machinery and bulky, heavy, energy-intensive materials. “Imagine the energy needed to take a a massive coil of steel which gets shipped somewhere, cut that steel, put it on a line, and stamp that steel with a stamping machine,” Czinger says. “At Tesla’s factory, they have five-story tall machines to stamp aluminum. Then it all needs to be welded together. You have all of those inputs, and then the inputs from mining.”

The chassis for Divergent Microfactories new supercar, by contrast, is simple to assemble—it goes together in about 20 minutes—and weighs only around 100 pounds. The 3-D printed nodes can fit inside a backpack. Not only is the process more energy-efficient, it makes it possible for small-scale, low-cost car factories to emerge almost anywhere.

Boasting about Divergent’s use of 3D printers is ballsy enough, but taking a jab at Tesla in the process? The fanboys aren’t going to be happy. Watch your back, Czinger.

You can see Divergent’s chassis being built in the video above.