HP Innovation Journal Issue 14: Spring 2020 | Page 59

“Our main target is to
reduce the need for cars
for short distances.”
— P ETRI PITKÄNEN
CEO of Scouter Mobility
REVOLUTIONIZING VEHICLE DESIGN
AND DISTRIBUTION
Pitkänen says 3D printing was critical during the
prototyping stage for the Scouter, for elements such as
the display frame, the hand brake, and parts of pedals.
The process also makes it easy to provide customizable
options for commercial uses of the Scouter, decking it
out in a particular brand’s colors and logos, as well as
modifying its build to turn it into a mobile restaurant or
pizza delivery vehicle, for example. In 2016, the Scouter
received an electric vehicle innovation award from the
Finnish city of Tampere, where the initial prototypes
were created.
“3D printing enables us to completely rethink how we
design,” says HP’s Caron. “You’re bringing together
the supply chain folks, the engineers, and designers to
help them understand whether we should be building
something the way we always have, or whether we
should be looking at something new.”
Scouter Mobility is currently taking reservations for
vehicles available this summer. Scouters cost about 8,500
euros (US$9,300) and are available in Finland for now,
but Pitkänen and Ketola hope to expand to the Asia-
Pacific region. “Our main target is countries where the
pollution problems are the biggest and where the need
is highest,” says Pitkänen, highlighting that for warmer
climates, the Scouter can come with a solar panel,
which doubles as a sunroof that could make the vehicle
self-charging.
Along with reduced emissions from the vehicles them-
selves, Pitkänen notes that another sustainability benefit
is that 3D printing of Scouters allows for the possibility
of “microfactories” that produce vehicles locally, versus
shipping them around the world—a practice that could
become more common as 3D printing gains traction.
“When we think about manufacturing locally, not only
does that create economic development for the region
itself, it also reduces the energy consumption and the
cost of shipping,” Caron says. “We’re entering a new era
of in-time and on-demand manufacturing.”
This article originally appeared on the Garage by HP.
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