Uniti Uniti One History

The Uniti One was conceived in 2015 as part of an open-innovation project at Lund University and became the founding product of the independent startup Uniti Sweden AB in January 2016. CEO Lewis Horne pitched the car as a 'smartphone on wheels' — a lightweight, connected electric city car with Scandinavian minimalist design principles. An early concept called the Kepler Pod debuted publicly at the CeBit trade show in early 2016, drawing considerable press attention and seeding a crowdfunding campaign that raised over €1.1 million from more than 3,000 backers across 40 countries.

The production-intent specification announced in 2019 described a 1+1 tandem-seat layout (driver centre-front, one passenger directly behind — a configuration borrowed from motorcycle thinking to keep the vehicle narrow). Power came from a 50 kW permanent-magnet rear motor producing 85 N·m of torque. A 12 kWh battery was to deliver a claimed 93-mile (150 km) range; an optional 24 kWh pack extended that to 186 miles. CCS fast charging was standard. UK pricing before any government grant was announced at approximately £18,600. The design later evolved to a 1+2 three-seat layout for the intended production car, with the driver still centred ahead of two offset rear passengers.

Manufacturing plans shifted repeatedly: an initial 50,000-unit-per-year Landscrona, Sweden facility backed by Siemens gave way in late 2018 to a pilot plant at Silverstone, England, and then to a site in Norwich. First deliveries — targeted at Sweden and the UK — were promised for mid-2020. None materialised. In January 2022 Swedish magazine Filter exposed that a vehicle Uniti had presented as a new 'model Zero' was a Zhidou D3 microcar sourced from China and cosmetically modified, dealing a severe reputational blow. Uniti Sweden AB was formally declared bankrupt in March 2022; no Uniti One was ever delivered to a paying customer. After the collapse, company assets — including intellectual property, design materials, and technical documentation — were acquired by an earlier investor who appointed new leadership (CEO Paul Birch) with stated intentions to restart development.