Image of the day: 3D printed electric motorcycle weighs only 77 pounds

Bearing the resemblance of an organic skeleton, the bike can withstand the weight loads of daily riding

When most people think of the European aerospace company Airbus, electric motorcycles are hardly the first things to come to mind. But in reality, the behemoth-sized company employs over 74,000 people within a consortium of subsidiaries that extend beyond civil aircraft manufacturing.

APWorks, one of these subsidiaries, specializes in researching and developing additive manufacturing technology like metallic 3D printing, to supply Airbus’ main business. Now and then, the company launches independent products developed using this technology. One of the latest is Light Rider, an electric motorcycle built from tiny aluminum alloy particles sprayed from the nozzle of a 3D printer.

Light Rider was manufactured using a proprietary 3D printing material called Scalmalloy, a lightweight aluminum alloy, and the entire bike weighs only 77 pounds (35 kg) when factoring in the 6 kW motor, battery pack, and mechanical parts. The frame alone weighs just 13 (6 kg) pounds and is hollow to allow space for integrated cables and pipes leading from the vehicle’s powertrain.

APWorks explains that it arrived at the conjuncture of functional motorcycle and lightweight design through software-driven optimization:

“APWorks used an algorithm to develop the Light Rider’s optimized structure to keep weight at a minimum while ensuring the motorcycle’s frame was strong enough to handle the weight loads and stresses of everyday driving scenarios. The result: a motorcycle that looks more like an organic exoskeleton than a machine. That was a very deliberate design goal for APWorks, which programmed the algorithm to use bionic structures and natural growth processes and patterns as the basis for developing a strong but lightweight structure.”

With a 6kW electric motor and a top speed of up to 50 mph (80 km/h), Light Rider is more like a cross between a dirt bike and an electric bike rather than a full-on motorcycle. Its swappable battery enables a driving range of up to 37 miles (60 km) on a single charge and may not require a license to operate—depending, of course, on the owner's country of residence.

50 Light Riders will be available to order for €50,000 (approximately $56,000)