In a market saturated with ever-heavier EVs, a brand new British marque is betting massive on going mild. Enter Longbow Motors – the world’s first devoted electrical sports activities automobile producer within the UK and the creator of a completely new automotive section: Featherweight Electrical Automobiles (FEVs). With its Speedster and Roadster fashions, Longbow isn’t simply electrifying the light-weight sports activities automobile formulation – it’s redefining it.
“We have now misplaced one thing vital,” says Daniel Davey, Longbow’s Co-Founder and CEO. “Many trendy ‘sportscars’ tip the scales at 1,500kg and BEVs can attain virtually double that. There’s a want for a extra driver-oriented, featherweight, electrical sportscar.”
At a time when the typical electrical automobile weighs 30% greater than its inside combustion counterpart – because of the bulk of batteries and strengthened chassis – Longbow’s fashions are shockingly lean. The Speedster suggestions the scales at simply 895kg, whereas the Roadster weighs a modest 995kg. For context, that’s lighter than a Mazda MX-5 and over 500kg lower than a Tesla Mannequin 3 (which weighs 1,611kg per the US EPA). Each Longbow vehicles dash from 0-62mph in beneath 3.6 seconds.
Future legacy
Longbow’s story is considered one of engineering pedigree and purist philosophy. Based by Davey, Jenny Keisu, and Mark Tapscott – veterans of Tesla, Lucid Motors, BYD, and the marine EV startup X Shore – the corporate brings collectively many years of automotive and tech innovation.
The ethos of Longbow is encapsulated in its Latin motto: Celeritas Levitas, or “the velocity of lightness.” For the founders, it’s greater than branding, it’s a mission. The workforce has drawn inspiration from legends just like the Lotus Elise and Jaguar E-Kind, crafting electrical vehicles that prioritize suggestions, engagement, and a return to tactile driving.
“Longbow is the following chapter in that story,” explains Tapscott. “British engineering and automotive craftsmanship have an extended historical past of growing light-weight sportscars with nice business and aggressive success.”
The primary Longbow to hit the highway would be the Speedster – a minimalist open-top machine with no roof, no windscreen, and no apologies. Weighing in at 895kg and producing 322bhp from a 240kW electrical motor, it accelerates from 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds and delivers a WLTP-estimated vary of 275 miles. Pricing begins at £84,995, and simply 150 vehicles might be hand-built.
Shortly after comes the Roadster, a fixed-roof coupe aimed toward a barely broader viewers. At 995kg and three.6 seconds to 62mph, it sacrifices not one of the efficiency. Its 280-mile vary and extra accessible £64,995 value level put it in competition with top-spec Caterhams, Porsche’s mid-range Boxsters, and even undercuts the Lotus Emira by £20,000.
Critically, each fashions are constructed on the identical bespoke aluminum chassis, formed for rigidity and minimal weight. “It’s purposeful in proportion, formed for velocity and honed for suggestions to ship a driving expertise that feels alive in your fingers,” states Longbow’s press launch.
Fats-free engineering
To maintain weight and prices in test, Longbow has shunned carbon fiber for sustainably-produced composite panels wrapped round an aluminum construction. The place many startups would possibly waste sources reinventing each element, Longbow takes a extra pragmatic strategy: “Relatively than growing proprietary parts, Longbow sources essential parts like batteries, motors, and brakes from established suppliers,” the corporate states.
Energy comes from 2170-format nickel-cadmium cylindrical battery cells, a selection that provides confirmed efficiency and a excessive vitality density. Whereas Longbow hasn’t disclosed actual capability (estimated to be within the 50-60kWh vary primarily based on vary and weight), they’ve in-built modularity: the structure is swappable and future-ready. “The vehicles can accommodate totally different battery codecs, together with each cylindrical cells and pouch cells,” the corporate notes, serving to to future-proof the platform in opposition to evolving chemistries and provide disruptions.
The software program stack that connects all of it is Longbow’s personal, and the corporate is actively exploring a dual-motor model for future variants – probably opening the door to AWD efficiency.
Longbow is agency in its perception that sports activities vehicles ought to serve the driving force, not distract them. You gained’t discover synthetic engine sounds or faux gearshifts right here. As a substitute, the cockpit is tactile and timeless, targeted on necessities and craftsmanship. “It represents driving ‘prefer it used to really feel,’” the corporate states. Anticipate leather-based, steel, and minimal screens – that is driving distilled.
“Speedster and Roadster are putting, mild, nimble, balanced, and engineered for an unparalleled driving expertise,” the founders say. It’s not simply rhetoric – the dedication to a sub-1,000kg EV required an entire rethink of each element. Lighter autos additionally imply smaller motors and batteries, which lowers value and will increase effectivity – each financially and environmentally.
Made in Britain
Manufacturing will happen within the UK, leveraging the nation’s wealthy community of efficiency automobile suppliers and engineering expertise. From Formulation E powertrain companions to motorsport-grade chassis consultants, Longbow’s chosen provide chain is considered one of proximity and precision. The corporate has but to verify a manufacturing facility location however website choice and manufacturing planning are nicely underway, with plans for a operating prototype this summer season and buyer deliveries scheduled for 2026.
“There are just a few locations on this planet the place you may hand construct a sportscar,” explains Tapscott. “Within the UK, British engineering and automotive craftsmanship have an extended historical past of growing light-weight sportscars with nice business and aggressive success. Longbow is the following chapter in that story, harnessing those self same concepts to create the best driver’s vehicles of the trendy period.”
The founders consider their expertise offers them a singular benefit in avoiding the pitfalls which have claimed so many British sports activities automobile makers. “Primary, as an organization, we and our different co-founder Jenny have accomplished this earlier than,” says Davey. “[We’ve been at] Tesla, Lucid, Polestar, Chinese language producers. There aren’t many individuals on the planet which have accomplished it as soon as – we’ve [launched EV makers] 4 or 5 occasions throughout a number of corporations and continents. So we all know how you can construct the corporate aspect of it.”
The Featherweight Electrical Car (FEV) class is fully new. Whereas most electrical sports activities vehicles right this moment – such because the Rimac Nevera or Lotus Evija – concentrate on excessive horsepower and futuristic styling, Longbow is carving out house for one thing totally different: simplicity, affordability (comparatively), and accessibility for driving purists.
Acciording to Bloomberg, EV adoption projected to succeed in 60% of latest automobile gross sales globally by 2030, and rising curiosity in sustainable efficiency, Longbow’s area of interest might quickly change into a motion. With reservations now open, the approaching months will reveal whether or not this audacious entry into the electrical sports activities automobile market can succeed the place so many British automotive startups have failed. What’s sure is that the trade might be watching carefully to see if Longbow’s featherweight strategy marks the start of a brand new chapter in sports activities automobile evolution.
“We’re reviving an icon,” concludes Davey. “The light-weight British sportscar.”
