Additive Manufacturing in the Automotive Industry and the Potential for Driving the Green and Electric Transition

The dawn of mainstream electric vehicles is here, with almost all major automotive manufacturers now offering fully electric alternatives to traditional internal combustion-based cars. This is in alignment with major trends in sustainability in today’s world where a reduction in the usage of fossil fuels and other fossil fuel-dependent technologies is being realized. Additive Manufacturing technologies that have in the past been driven by the automotive industry, now present an opportunity for the automotive sector, where greater gains and benefits can be made by its adoption. Additively manufactured parts enable complex optimized design and also promote material efficiency. Moreover, system wide benefits in terms of streamlined supply chains and logistics operations are also possible and promised. This manuscript presents these benefits, the reason for the growing interests and an outlook for the future of integrated, metal- and polymer-based, additive manufacturing within traditional automotive manufacturing process chains.