Coming from the position of “I’m not sure it’s possible to protect the source of a space frame chassis”
Things like the Locost 7 have plans in the wild, and quite a few have been built.
You kind of have to pick your poison in terms of “off the shelf”. Does buying a BMW steering column or a Chevy crate engine count? The feasibility of casting and machining a block or head is way beyond most. (To the point where developing an open source engine would struggle to go beyond design phase without a company backing it IMO) a donor car is a good place to start, of course.
EVs may improve this, which would be good, though fucking with high voltage battery packs would be a negative.
Chassis is relatively straightforward so long as you stick to box section or tubing.
Body panels are tricky too, something like the Locost isnt too bad. Even more complicated is within the grasp of a dedicated home gamer - but we’re talking big 3D printers/serious clay or polystyrene modelling skills/CF or GF moulding etc. high expense high skill.
If you’re talking at the level of open source chassis produced by a few companies, few different companies do EV motors, few do trims, few do body work etc and then integrators put them together - I could see it working, it’s not that dissimilar to how say VW/Audi/Skoda/Seat operate.
I do like the idea of PC style integrators and you spec the car you want, probably pricey though.
Why would someone design a car that anyone could copy? Even worse, how do you handle certain legal issues where the designer and manufacturer don’t have a legal agreement with each other?
I suppose a business model similar to many open source projects? Any manufacturer can make it, charge what they deem a sensible price and then charge fees for maintenance, support and trouble shooting
How many open source projects include safety guarantees of use? I can legally sue car manufacturers for faults in design of the car that I or others purchase. Who do I sue with open source projects if the crash is due to a flaw in design?
Isn’t it time for an open source car? Built with off the shelf components and 3d printable parts
Coming from the position of “I’m not sure it’s possible to protect the source of a space frame chassis”
Things like the Locost 7 have plans in the wild, and quite a few have been built.
You kind of have to pick your poison in terms of “off the shelf”. Does buying a BMW steering column or a Chevy crate engine count? The feasibility of casting and machining a block or head is way beyond most. (To the point where developing an open source engine would struggle to go beyond design phase without a company backing it IMO) a donor car is a good place to start, of course.
EVs may improve this, which would be good, though fucking with high voltage battery packs would be a negative.
Chassis is relatively straightforward so long as you stick to box section or tubing.
Body panels are tricky too, something like the Locost isnt too bad. Even more complicated is within the grasp of a dedicated home gamer - but we’re talking big 3D printers/serious clay or polystyrene modelling skills/CF or GF moulding etc. high expense high skill.
If you’re talking at the level of open source chassis produced by a few companies, few different companies do EV motors, few do trims, few do body work etc and then integrators put them together - I could see it working, it’s not that dissimilar to how say VW/Audi/Skoda/Seat operate.
I do like the idea of PC style integrators and you spec the car you want, probably pricey though.
Why would someone design a car that anyone could copy? Even worse, how do you handle certain legal issues where the designer and manufacturer don’t have a legal agreement with each other?
I suppose a business model similar to many open source projects? Any manufacturer can make it, charge what they deem a sensible price and then charge fees for maintenance, support and trouble shooting
How many open source projects include safety guarantees of use? I can legally sue car manufacturers for faults in design of the car that I or others purchase. Who do I sue with open source projects if the crash is due to a flaw in design?
The manufacturer? Why would that change.
Why would the manufacturer take on liability for a design issue they didn’t design?
They built the thing and sold it as safe, the liability is implicit. If you produce something you need to produce it to established standards.