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This is Uniti – Getting the world where it needs to be

Uniti Sweden is a Swedish automotive startup founded in January 2016 by Lewis Horne (CEO) which is developing a high tech electric city car in Lund, Sweden.

Uniti Sweden AB

Trading name

 Uniti

Type

 Public company
Industry Electric car
Founded January 2016
Founder Lewis Horne
Headquarters Tellusgatan 13, Lund, Sweden
Products Uniti car

Number of employees

 45 employees
Website http://www.uniti.earth

Uniti started as an open innovation project at Lund University and evolved into an independent startup in January 2016. The company aims at changing the automotive codes by redesigning the entire car, which entails removing the steering wheel and most of the mechanical system as well as producing the first sustainable car.[1]

The prototype development is funded through an equity-crowdfunding campaign on the Swedish platform FundedByMe, which was supported by 570 investors who invested €1,227,990.[2]The company placed display cars at Media Markt locations in Stockholm and Malmö, with VR test-drives available.[3]

UnitiEdit

PrototypeEdit

Uniti publicly exhibited the one-piece cockpit concept, called Kepler Pod, for the first time during the 2016 CeBit event.[4] The cockpit has been coupled with a virtual reality system to showcase the head-up display technology which will be featured in the car.

Different exterior design concepts have been displayed during a private event in April 2017.[5] The final prototype design will be unveiled later in 2017.[6]

Uniti carEdit

The two to four seater vehicle (depending on the version) is designed to comply with the regulatory category of heavy quadricycles (L7e).[7]

To be lightweight (450 kg) and safe, the car will be made with sustainable composite biomaterials and carbon fibers. Uniti car will have 2 electric motors delivering a total output 15 kW (40 kW peak), which allows the vehicle to reach 0 to 80 km/h in less than 3.5 seconds with a top speed of 90 km/h to 130 km/h depending on the version. The urban electric car will have a Li-Ion battery which supports induction and plug-in charge, and capable of supplying 11 to 20 kWh of energy. Depending on the version, the range per charge varies from 150 km to 300 km. The Swedish car will feature technologies designed in-house such as a steer-by-wire system, an interactive HUD windscreen, a digital human-machine interactioncapacity, as well as autonomous driving functions.[8]

ProductionEdit

German industrial giant Siemens has entered into a partnership with the group to produce their Uniti two-seater electric car. Prototypes will be available later this year. The partners are planning to design a fully automated Industry 4.0 facility in Malmö, Sweden, to produce as many as 50,000 cars a year beginning in 2018. They are also considering a production facility in Adelaide, Australia, for distribution into the Asian market. Lewis Horne, the CEO of Uniti Sweden, says the deal gives his company “the opportunity to not only develop a sustainable car, but also manufacture it in a sustainable way at a large scale.” Ola Janson of Siemens Industry Software said he was “really looking forward to having that partnership” between “Siemens as the very old, stable company, yet still innovative” and Uniti Sweden made up of “young people, innovative people, (who) don’t have the legacy, don’t have the limits like myself.” [9][10]

In late October 2018, Uniti switched course, as it announced plans to open its European plant at a business park in Silverstone, England, with 2-seaters expected in production by late 2019 or early 2020, followed a few months later by 4- and 5-seat versions.