British EV start-up Longbow has revealed what it calls a “full-speed driving prototype” of its incoming ultra-light electric sports car – and claims to have created it in about a third the time the same operation would have taken a normal car company.
The £84,995 Speedster, due to reach its first customers at the end of next year, was taken from two-dimensional design sketches to running prototype in just six months – by a company that was only incorporated in 2023.
A coupé version, called the Roadster (pictured below), will be built in much higher volume than the Speedster’s initial 150 units and should reach the market about a year after, at a lower price of £64,995.
Orders for both are being taken now, and the first year’s run of Speedsters is understood already to have been allocated.
Longbow’s founders, Daniel Davey and Mark Tapscott, both of whom have previous connections with the EV pioneers Tesla and Lucid, call their design the world’s first FEV (for 'featherweight electric vehicle') that embodies what they call “the speed of lightness”.
It will weigh just 895kg at the kerb, even with a 52kWh battery, inverter and rear-mounted electric motor fitted. Power has yet to be finalised but it will be “at least 200kW” or 270bhp, the pair told Autocar.
Road test trials are just about to begin, but in production the Speedster is calculated to have a 0-62mph acceleration time of just 3.5sec and a WLTP range of 275 miles.
Practically speaking, the founders said, the car’s range should exceed 200 miles when it's driven briskly.
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You have to admire the enthusiasm of these start ups. They could have said they'll build 100,000 cars a year, cos regrettably i think by this time next year, they will be but a memory!
First action fire the PR agency for this outpouring of 100 year rubbish. Second action produce a few cars. Third action seek receivership. I give it 6 months.
They sound confident ambitious with there car, I just hope it lives up to its projected figures and no I don't think it's overpriced,the problem area is who builds them.
If they don't get, who's going to build it and where sorted soon, it's going the same as the most recent attempt to resurect TVR.