UNITI
Swedish start-up plans to make e-cars at Silverstone / UK facility expected to be making the Uniti "One" two-seater by 2020 / Partnerships with CRP processors and battery specialists
 Uniti plans pilot manufacturing plant at Silverstone Park race track (Image: Uniti) |
Electric car developer Uniti (Lund / Sweden; www.uniti.earth) plans to establish a pilot manufacturing plant at British "Grand Prix" race track Silverstone Park to produce the Uniti "One" two-seater – see Plasteurope.com of 22.11.2017. Uniti, which started out in 2015 as an open innovation research project at Lund University before becoming a fully-blown technology development company, expects the facility to be up and running by 2020. Aside from producing the Uniti One, built from a fair amount of carbon fibre-reinforced plastics (CRPs), the plant will serve as a blueprint for other globally licensed assembly plants.
Unitiy CEO Lewis Horne said the UK’s approach to vehicle production – focusing on areas such as lightweighting and innovation in advanced materials – was an ideal model for e-car production globally. A spokeswoman told Plasteurope.com that plans for the announced manufacturing site in Landskrona / Sweden are not off the table, but assembly there will probably be implemented later.
There are currently around 40,000 electric cars registered in the UK, ranging from small two-seaters to top end vehicles made by the likes of Tesla (Palo Alto, California / USA; www.tesla.com). The Silverstone development is one of the first of several planned initiatives which will see Uniti seeking to establish itself in the UK. The company's goal is to become a major player in the country's electric vehicle market over the next few years.
The Swedish carmaker has already hired a team of engineers at an R&D centre in Northamptonshire / UK as well as fostering partnerships with local companies including KW Special Projects (Brackley / UK; www.kwspecialprojects.com) for lightweight structure and additive manufacturing, Danecca (Silverstone / UK; www.danecca.com) for batteries and Unipart (Cowley / UK; www.unipart.com) for the global supply chain. The latter works for Jaguar Land Rover.
Uniti said it was also setting up an administrative office in London to raise capital funding for its planned activities. Delivery of the first Uniti models is still planned for the end of 2019.
Unitiy CEO Lewis Horne said the UK’s approach to vehicle production – focusing on areas such as lightweighting and innovation in advanced materials – was an ideal model for e-car production globally. A spokeswoman told Plasteurope.com that plans for the announced manufacturing site in Landskrona / Sweden are not off the table, but assembly there will probably be implemented later.
There are currently around 40,000 electric cars registered in the UK, ranging from small two-seaters to top end vehicles made by the likes of Tesla (Palo Alto, California / USA; www.tesla.com). The Silverstone development is one of the first of several planned initiatives which will see Uniti seeking to establish itself in the UK. The company's goal is to become a major player in the country's electric vehicle market over the next few years.
The Swedish carmaker has already hired a team of engineers at an R&D centre in Northamptonshire / UK as well as fostering partnerships with local companies including KW Special Projects (Brackley / UK; www.kwspecialprojects.com) for lightweight structure and additive manufacturing, Danecca (Silverstone / UK; www.danecca.com) for batteries and Unipart (Cowley / UK; www.unipart.com) for the global supply chain. The latter works for Jaguar Land Rover.
Uniti said it was also setting up an administrative office in London to raise capital funding for its planned activities. Delivery of the first Uniti models is still planned for the end of 2019.
14.11.2018 Plasteurope.com [241017-0]
Published on 14.11.2018
German version of this article...