Uniti Sweden was a Swedish automotive

startup A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

founded in January 2016 by Lewis Horne (CEO) which aimed at developing a

high-tech High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...

electric city car in

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Uniti started as an open innovation project at

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion automotive codes by redesigning the entire car, focusing on delivering a lightweight, digital first experience, as well as producing a completely climate-neutral car. The company was initially funded through a series of crowdfunding campaigns, angel investors and institutional investors. The company had over 3000 investors from 40 countries. The company also conducted vehicle pre-order campaigns at

Media Markt Media Markt is a German multinational chain of stores selling consumer electronics with over 1000 stores in Europe. With chain of stores Saturn it constitutes Media-Saturn Holding, owned by the retail company Ceconomy, which was demerged from M ...

locations in Stockholm and Malmö, with VR test-drives available.

Uniti

Prototype and concepts

Uniti publicly exhibited the one-piece cockpit concept, called Kepler Pod, for the first time during the 2016

CeBit CeBIT was the largest and most internationally representative computer expo. The trade fair was held each year on the Hanover fairground, the world's largest fairground, in Hanover, Germany. In its day, it was considered a barometer of cur ...

event. The cockpit has been coupled with a

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...

system to showcase the

head-up display A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD (), is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view informa ...

technology which will be featured in the car. Different exterior design concepts have been displayed during early 2017. Initially, the two and four seater vehicles (depending on the version) were designed to comply with the regulatory

vehicle category A vehicle category classifies a land vehicle or trailer for regulatory purposes. UNECE categories United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Information from Consolidated Resolution on the Construction of Vehicles (R.E.3), Revision 6. Some ...

of 450 kg heavy quadricycles (L7e), like quads and e.g. the electric

Renault Twizy The Renault Twizy is a two-seat electric microcar designed and marketed by Renault. It is classified in Europe as either a light or heavy quadricycle depending on the output power, which is either for the 45 model or for the 80 model, both names ...

. To be lightweight and safe, sustainable

composite Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials ...

biomaterial A biomaterial is a substance that has been engineered to interact with biological systems for a medical purpose, either a therapeutic (treat, augment, repair, or replace a tissue function of the body) or a diagnostic one. As a science, biomateria ...

s and

carbon fibers Carbon fibers or carbon fibres (alternatively CF, graphite fiber or graphite fibre) are fibers about in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. Carbon fibers have several advantages: high stiffness, high tensile strength, high stren ...

will be used. Uniti vehicle was supposed to have 2

electric motor An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...

s 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 was supposed to have a

Li-Ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also sees ...

which supports

induction Induction, Inducible or Inductive may refer to: Biology and medicine * Labor induction (birth/pregnancy) * Induction chemotherapy, in medicine * Induced stem cells, stem cells derived from somatic, reproductive, pluripotent or other cell t ...

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 Drive by wire, DbW, by-wire, steer-by-wire, fly-by-wire or x-by-wire technology in the automotive or aviation industry is the use of electrical or electro-mechanical systems for performing vehicle functions traditionally achieved by mechanical link ...

system, an interactive HUD windscreen, a digital human-machine interaction capacity, as well as

autonomous driving A self-driving car, also known as an autonomous car, driver-less car, or robotic car (robo-car), is a car that is capable of traveling without human input.Xie, S.; Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Ding, Z.; Arvin, F.,Distributed Motion Planning for S ...

functions. In February 2018, the company showcased a two-seater at the

Auto Expo The Auto Expo is a biennial automotive show held in Greater Noida, NCR, India. Till 2012, the Auto Expo was organized at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi which combined both vehicles and components. In 2014, The Auto Expo (Motor Show) moved to the n ...

Greater Noida Greater Noida is a Planned community, planned city located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city was created as an extension to Noida, Noida area under the ''UP Industrial Area Development Act, 1976''. ...

, India. The company also announced a partnership with the

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

-based Bird Group to bring a five-seater car to the Indian market by 2020.

Uniti One

In July 2018, Uniti announced that both the 2-seater Uniti One and a later 4/5-seat model will be in the M1 class, like proper automobiles, which means that the Uniti cars will undergo the same crash tests and safety requirements as regular automobiles. The Uniti One will be a 2-seat 100% electric city car, with internet access and innovative cockpit design comparable to using a smartphone. The asymmetric seat configuration, with the passenger behind the driver, is actually 1+1, like on a motorbike, or in the

. With less width and frontal area than a regular car, the Uniti One should be easier to handle and park in tight European cities, while having less drag and better range on interstate highways than most small electric cars. Modern safety features include a sensor suite and safety technologies ( ADAS) to help avoid crashes before they happen. It is supposed to be ''Fleet Ready'', prepared for the needs of businesses and car-sharing services, which may include sharing the car among relatives, friends, and neighbors without dealing with keys. The target specifications, as of April 2019, include 240 km range, 130 km/h top speed, rear-wheel-drive dual motors with an output of 120 kW (163 hp). With power similar to a carbonfiber

BMW i3 The BMW i3 is a B-segment, high-roof hatchback manufactured and marketed by BMW with an electric powertrain using rear-wheel drive via a single-speed transmission and an underfloor Lithium-ion battery, lithium-ion battery pack and an optional R ...

, but at 900 kg gross weight less than that of a 2013 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive, the Uniti One should accelerate even quicker than these. The 26 kWh battery pack can be charged by DC fast charging ( CCS Combo 2 for Europe) in 25 minutes from 20-80%

state of charge State of charge (SoC) is the level of charge of an electric battery relative to its capacity. The units of SoC are percentage points (0% = empty; 100% = full). An alternative form of the same measure is the Depth of discharge, depth of discharge ...

, which equals to an average of 37 kW. The given values mean that the consumption is around 10,8 kWh per 100 km.

Production

German industrial giant

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

has entered into a partnership with the group to produce their Uniti two-seater electric car. In 2017, the company claimed that prototypes would be available later that year. The partners were planning to design a fully

automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

Industry 4.0 The Fourth Industrial Revolution, 4IR, or Industry 4.0, conceptualizes rapid change to technology, industries, and societal patterns and processes in the 21st century due to increasing interconnectivity and smart automation. The term has bee ...

facility in

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

, Sweden, to produce as many as 50,000 cars a year beginning in 2018. They were also considering a production facility in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, Australia, for distribution into the Asian market. Lewis Horne, the CEO of Uniti Sweden, said the deal gave 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

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." In late October 2018, Uniti switched course, as it announced plans to open its European pilot production plant at a business park in

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

, England, with 2-seaters expected in production by late 2019 or early 2020, followed a few months later by 4- and 5-seat versions. Among the advantages to the Silverstone Park plant are: access to design, engineering and production talent, supply chain access, as well as access to the UK auto market. In 2019, the specifications for the first production vehicle were announced, and orders were opened via the website, requiring a 50% deposit. Unlike the prototype, it is now a 3-seater, and to be produced in Norwich. The car is available with a 12kWh or 24kWh battery, the former priced at £15,100 for a base model, making it the cheapest new electric car available to order in the UK as of November 2019

References

External links