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Mobility is undergoing changes. Increasingly strict legislation regarding pollutant emissions and the protection of the environment are more important than ever. The change to electric mobility is also presenting the mobile world with new challenges and opportunities. Vehicles are becoming more and more efficient with higher power densities and better performance. Application-adapted components are being developed and used as a matter of preference. New production technologies can help to realise the change in mobility reliably. Additive manufacturing is one way of producing functionally integrated and performance-optimised components. AM offers the possibility to produce application-specific performance parts. Electric vehicles often have a problem with the thermal load of the components during power output and charging. Additively manufactured components with optimised topology and integrated cooling strive to achieve higher power density, enhanced cooling performance, and improved mechanical properties. AM not only makes it possible to produce functionally integrated and application-adapted components but also to reduce CO2 emissions and conserve resources. The potential of additive manufacturing for mobility is particularly interesting for the spare and performance parts sector. Components can be improved in performance and manufactured directly on-site. The higher power density and the elimination of transport routes can make an additional significant contribution to environmental protection. This paper presents an overview of the current state of additive manufacturing in the field of electromobility with regard to replacement and performance parts using 3D metal printing. Based on an extensive literature research, a market overview is given. This serves as the basis for the further procedure and, building on this, the advantages of additive manufacturing are demonstrated using the example of an electric motor. The selected electric motor is an example of a defective component in a vehicle that needs to be replaced and whose performance can be improved by additive manufacturing and which can be produced on-site in a quantity of one. The motor is verified by means of a FEM simulation in order to determine the selection of an optimal water jacket topology and to demonstrate further potential for the future.

Digitization is one of the megatrends of our time. New production and supply chain methods are introduced in the industry, which fundamentally change the previous workflows. An area in which digitization can bring about major changes in the spare parts business. One approach to develop the spare parts business regarding technology and sustainability is the digital spare parts concept. The concept follows the goal to produce decentral in the required quantity and at the required location. The research focuses on the calculation of carbon emissions to compare the subtractive and additive production of metal parts and their transport ways. A literature review analyses existing studies and quantifies the main carbon emission drivers of the production of metal spare parts production. With the help of the DHL Carbon Calculator, the transport emissions are identified. Depending on the urgency of the spare part, transport varies between ship, train, truck or airplane on different distances. A data set of 27,000 scenarios is analysed. It is shown, that the transport routes are not the major driver for carbon emissions along the whole process chain. Analysis showed, that the buy-to-fly ratio and the energy mix are the key drivers for carbon emissions.

Additive manufacturing (AM) offers the possibility to produce components in a resource-efficient and environmentally friendly way. AM can also be used to optimise the design of components in mechanical and physical terms. In this way, functionally integrated, lightweight, highly efficient, and innovative components can be manufactured with the help of additive manufacturing in terms of Industry 4.0. Furthermore, requirements in the automotive industry for drivetrain components are increasingly being trimmed in the direction of efficiency and environmental protection. Especially in electromobility, the topic of green efficiency is an essential component. Exhaust emission legislation and driving profiles for evaluating vehicles are becoming increasingly detailed. This offers the potential to apply the advantages of AM to vehicle types such as conventional, utility vehicles, and nonroad mobile machinery (NRMM), independent of the electrical drivetrain technology (hybrid or fully electrical). AM also allows for us to produce optimally adapted components to the respective requirements and use cases. In this review, the intersections of AM and electromobility are illuminated, showing which solutions and visions are already available for the different vehicle types on the market and which solutions are being scientifically researched. Furthermore, the potential and existing deficit of AM in the field of electromobility are shown. Lastly, new and innovative solutions are presented and classified according to their advantages and disadvantages.

In this study, the influence of laser polishing on the microstructural and mechanical properties of additively manufactured aluminium AlSi10Mg Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) parts is analysed. The investigation is carried out on a 5-axis laser cell equipped with 1D Scanner optics driven by a solid-state disc laser at a wavelength of 1030 nm. Laser polishing is performed with pulsed or continuous laser radiation on samples in the initial L-PBF state or after stress relief treatment in a furnace. The metallurgical investigation of the remelting zone with a depth of 101–237 µm revealed an unchanged and homogeneous chemical composition, with a coarsened α-phase and a changed grain structure. The hardness within the remelting zone is reduced to 102–104 HV 0.1 compared to 146 HV 0.1 at the L-PBF initial state. Below the remelting zone, within the heat affected zone, a reduced microhardness, which can reach a thickness up to 1.5 mm, occurs. Laser polishing results in a reduction in residual stresses and resulting distortions compared to the L-PBF initial state. Nevertheless, the re-solidification shrinkage of the polished surface layer introduces additional tensions, resulting in sample distortions well above ones remaining after a stress relieve heat treatment of the initial state. The mechanical properties, analysed on laser polished flat tensile specimens, revealed an increase in the ultimate elongation from 4.5% to 5.4–10.7% and a reduction in the tensile strength from 346 N/mm2 to 247–271 N/mm2 through laser polishing. Hence, the strength resulting from this is comparable to the initial L-PBF specimens after stress relieve heat treatment.