How GreenTeam Stuttgart Climbed to the Top of the Global Rankings with SLS 3D Printing Parts

Posted by FIT THAI on May 2, 2026

Building a race car has always focused on maximizing weight reduction, acceleration, and flexibility. In every season of the Formula Student motorsport competition, the GreenTeam from the University of Stuttgart strives to fine-tune these aspects in their prototype vehicle to perfection in order to outpace competing student teams from around the world.

The team used SLS 3D printing technology for parts and various mounting devices during the engineering design of their vehicle.

In an interview with Oliver Spengel, a student of automotive and engine technology and the leader of the GreenTeam, we discussed how Formlabs supports the GreenTeam project and the advantages that 3D printing brings to students during vehicle development and competition.

To the top of the global rankings with electric power.

Formula Student is an international motorsport and design competition for students, where teams from around the world compete in various categories with self-designed and manufactured formula racing cars.

At the Formula Student Germany (FSG) competition in the summer of 2021, the GreenTeam from the University of Stuttgart set a new scoring record in the electric category, scoring a total of 936 out of 1,000 points. As a result of this and other successes in Formula Student competitions across Europe, this renowned team is currently ranked number 1 in the world in the electric category of Formula Student.

“In principle, this process aligns with real motorsport, just scaled down to a level that students can manage. You have one year to develop a prototype vehicle and take it to compete against Formula Student teams from around the world,” Spengel explained.

The evaluation is conducted by a professional committee, both in static and dynamic assessments, which considers every aspect of the students' work to achieve a maximum score of 1,000 points. Everything in the evaluation factors, such as vehicle acceleration, engineering, and finance, must be perfect.

Creating lightweight and complex parts with 3D printing.

For several years, the GreenTeam has been using 3D-printed parts in their vehicle production. By doing so, they can overcome several fundamental challenges at the same time, such as time pressure, limited financial resources, and reducing the weight of the race car.

The team used 3D printing with Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) technology for parts in the cooling system and drive units, including various mounting devices on the vehicle.

“Most of these parts are used in cooling systems, as this system consists of small, highly complex parts that cannot be produced by other manufacturing processes, or if they can, it would be at a high cost and with significant weight,” Spengel explained.

“In general, this is also considered a major advantage of 3D printing. It offers you great design flexibility. You can significantly reduce the weight of parts and greatly save both time and production costs.”

Oliver Spengel

The complexity of the parts is particularly evident in the components of the air cooling system.

To ensure maximum airflow efficiency, the air cooling system relies on meticulously designed parts to control airflow, directing air to the internal fans or venting it out from various components as quickly as possible.

Air ducts made from Nylon 12 are installed with the high-voltage battery pack to cool the unit (the rear part of the displayed component).

The effective air cooling of the high-voltage battery, which powers the GreenTeam's electric vehicle, is extremely important to prevent potential power loss in the drive system.

“It is crucial that we always minimize power loss because losses will inevitably lead to higher energy demands. Conversely, that means we need to use larger batteries, which results in a heavier and slower vehicle,” Spengel said.

In addition to creating efficient small parts, the nylon material used in SLS 3D printing technology also ensures that the parts do not significantly impact the overall weight of the vehicle.

“When producing parts that are this complex, 3D printing is the only manufacturing method that allows us to create a car within such a short timeframe while still meeting the quality standards we expect.”

Oliver Spengel

Advantages over traditional manufacturing methods

With the extensive motorsport experience of the GreenTeam, team leader Oliver Spengel can compare the production of parts using SLS 3D printing and traditional manufacturing methods.

As mentioned earlier, the advantage of SLS 3D printing lies primarily in weight reduction, time, and cost. Examples of all three factors can be seen from a direct comparison between traditional manufacturing methods and 3D printing technology for small parts, such as the cooling pump mounting bracket installed on the side wing.

“Our cooling pump bracket, if made using traditional methods, would have to be made from metal sheets, which are already heavy. You would need to laser cut it and then bend it into shape, meaning you would have to use two manufacturers to carry this out. After that, it would still need to go through additional post-processing and possibly surface coating,” Spengel explained.

The small mounting bracket for the cooling system pump located on the side wing of the vehicle was printed with the Fuse 1 machine.

“Of course, SLS 3D printing is much easier, while still providing us with engineering flexibility. Just send the file to the printer, and the part will be printed out. Then it can be taken out and used in the vehicle immediately.”

Oliver Spengel

Advantages of nylon material

The dimensional stability and chemical resistance of nylon parts, which must maintain these properties even when race cars operate under extreme temperature variations, is a crucial factor.

“During the race, the water in our cooling system is at a temperature of about 60 to 80 degrees Celsius. Metals tend to corrode under such temperature fluctuations. Conversely, corrosion residues can damage delicate parts, such as water pumps. This specific problem can be avoided at many points by using plastic parts printed with SLS technology.”

Oliver Spengel said.

Pipe joints for the water cooling system printed with SLS technology and impregnated.

When used in a water cooling system, nylon parts undergo an impregnation process in post-production to reduce the risk of water seeping through the plastic parts or causing leaks.

In addition to SLS 3D printing, the student team from Stuttgart also uses FDM printing for simpler prototype parts. However, for parts that are to be installed for actual use on the car, they mostly choose SLS printing due to the properties of Formlabs Nylon 12 Powder.

“Materials printed with FDM technology are not suitable for us, as each layer of the part can separate, leading to leaks, which is a major issue,” Spengel explained.

SLS 3D printing has a significant advantage over FDM printing in that it can create parts with isotropic properties, which are better suited to withstand the forces and various conditions encountered by the car during competition, and it also has good resistance to corrosion.

With the positive properties of nylon parts mentioned, this type of application is increasingly being used as end-use parts in the automotive and aerospace industries, with the Formula racing car of the GreenTeam Stuttgart being one example of this trend.

Next step: Defending the championship title.

After qualifying for five competitions this year, nothing can stand in the way of the University of Stuttgart in the new season. Under a tight schedule, the team is finalizing the engineering details for assembling the race car, after which the car will be put to use immediately for driving tests.

The race car model that won last season, the E11 Evo, is on its own wheels for the first time.

In addition to being used as end-use parts in the automotive and aerospace industries, SLS 3D printing is also used for prototyping manufacturing tools or product design.