Uniti (car)
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Uniti | |
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 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 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]
It is offered in Media Markt.
Uniti
Prototype
Uniti publicly exhibited the one-piece cockpit concept, called Kepler Pod, for the first time during the 2016 CeBit event.[3] 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.[4] The final prototype design will be unveiled later in 2017.[5]
Uniti car
The two to four seater vehicle (depending on the version) is designed to comply with the regulatory category of heavy quadricycles (L7e).[6]
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 interaction capacity, as well as autonomous driving functions.[7]
Production
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.” [8][9]
See also
- List of highest-funded equity crowdfunding projects
- Baojun E100, another small electric car.
- Electric car
- Electric car use by country
- Vehicle category
- Automotive industry in Sweden
References
- ↑ Schlichter, Alexander (2016-10-11). "Uniti - Reinvent the automobile". Wundering.
- ↑ "Svenska elbilen som blev en crowdfunding-succé – 5 miljoner på två dagar". Veckans affärer. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
- ↑ "Uniti: Winziges umweltfreundliches Elektroauto auf der CeBIT". computerbild.de (in German). Retrieved 2016-05-31.
- ↑ "Uniti Design private event". www.facebook.com/teamuniti. April 29, 2017.
- ↑ "An Affordable, Futuristic Electric Car Will Finally Hit the Streets in 2017". Futurism. 2016-10-12. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
- ↑ "Regulation (EU) No 168/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2013 on the approval and market surveillance of two- or three-wheel vehicles and quadricycles Text with EEA relevance". EUR-Lex. European Union Law. 15 January 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
- ↑ "Uniti Sweden". Uniti. Retrieved 2017-05-23.
- ↑ "Siemens Partners With Swedish Electric Car Developer Uniti". cleantechnica.com. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
- ↑ "New fully automated car factory in Sweden - Automotive startup Uniti partners with Siemens to establish world first facility". Uniti Sweden via mynewsdesk.com.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Uniti Sweden AB. |
- Official website
- Smaller, lighter, greener: are micro EVs the future of city transport?
- Uniti Sweden: the diversity behind the electric car of the future
- Crowdfunded electric car to be manufactured in fully automated factory designed by Siemens
- Inside Uniti’s plan to build the iPhone of EVs
- How Norway's government made electric cars irresistible
- FundedByMe campaign page of Uniti
- Could this be the car of the future?
- Elbilsfabrik etableras i Skåne – vill ta in en halv miljard
- Swedish crowdfunding hit Uniti is becoming reality – 50,000 vehicles coming up