A mini-EV for €15k? Fund Uniti and it might happen

What traditional carmakers like Renault, Daimler and VW Group can’t, a Swedish start-up called Uniti might just pull off: building an urban electric car for just €15,000.

To get down to this price level, the company wants to scale up quickly and resort to ‘global-local’ partnership production in the UK, Australia and India, where 500,000 units of its Uniti One are to be produced per year by 2024.

In the UK, Uniti has already raised £1 million, but that is just a fraction of the capital needed to build the first factory and get the One type-approved. Further funding is to come from customers who pay a €149 deposit or even make full payment for the so-called Founders’ Edition.

Serious business

Uniti says its One can travel 240km on 26kWh – the capacity of its battery. That would make the car phenomenally frugal – today’s competitors like the Renault Zoé need a lot more kWh to travel the same distance. The secret lies in the low vehicle weight (900kg) and the highly efficient e-motors.

Uniti can count on some serious partners: Siemens, Nvidia, Haldex, Tele2 and Borg Warner. It is also backed by executives from Coca Cola, Unilever and Siri. The first prototypes are already whizzing around on Swedish roads. The series model is to debut this year.