Daniel Davey and Mark Tapscott, both former Tesla employees, introduced a concept car called the Longbow Speedster EV back in March. It has now debuted live in London, along with most specifications and the pricing.
As it turns out, the topless supercar weighs as little as 895 kilograms, or 1,973 pounds. With a base price of £84,995 ($110,763), it’s by no means cheap, but that’s what you may expect to pay for a car that gives birth to a whole new class called Featherweight Electric Vehicle (FEV), the company claims.
Once fully charged, the Speedster hits 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.5 seconds. It runs out of battery juice after 440 kilometers (273 miles) of range. The motor output remains to be disclosed, but with a custom aluminum chassis and an evenly distributed battery at its disposal, the car should be plenty fast.
Speaking about inspirations, Longbow says it was looking at the Jaguar E-Type and the Lotus Elise when it started work on the Speedster. The designers also studied the ideas of Colin Chapman to figure out what it meant to build an exceptionally simple and lightweight vehicle.
The first example of the EV has now debuted at a dedicated private event in London. The first customer deliveries are slated to begin next year. Somewhat later, the same company plans to produce a similar vehicle with a fixed roof and sell it under the name “Roadster”. This may sound misleading – as the car is technically going to be a coupe, unless we misunderstood something – but we suppose it could just be a jab at Elon Musk’s own Roadster project. The troubled Tesla EV has yet to see the daylight after many years of promises and costly preorders.
Speaking of costs: the Longbow Roadster is expected to start approximately £20,000 ($26,063) below the Speedster, making it sound like an actually practical car for EV enthusiasts.
