- Longbow rejects vertical integration for confirmed provide chains.
- Additive manufacturing reshapes low quantity customization domestically.
- The corporate needs EVs to really feel like sports activities automobiles not tech showcases.
For a lot of fashionable electrical autos, progress has come to imply extra. Extra batteries, extra screens, extra driver aids, and extra weight. Longbow doesn’t see that as a requirement, and even fascinating, for that matter.
The corporate was based in 2023 by Daniel Davey and Mark Tapscott, each veterans of Tesla and Lucid, in order that they have seen firsthand how formidable EV ideas maintain up as soon as they go away the presentation slide. On the finish of 2025, former X Shore CEO Jenny Keisu joined the management group, bringing expertise from the electrical marine world into the combo.
Extra: This Firm Simply Constructed A Speedster Earlier than Elon Completed His Roadster
Talking completely with Carscoops, Tapscott outlined an engineering philosophy rooted in first ideas, light-weight design, and a rejection of the concept electrification should mechanically result in outsized, tech-heavy autos.
Does Each EV Want To Be Constructed From Scratch?
“I feel it’s only a strengthening of resolve, to be trustworthy,” Tapscott mentioned when requested whether or not shifting business circumstances had compelled a rethink. Fairly than chasing vertical integration or speculative future applied sciences, Longbow is concentrated on constructing a sports activities automobile utilizing confirmed parts that exist already.
That mindset was strengthened early on by way of conversations with one among Tesla’s unique co-founders, Tapscott advised us, although he didn’t specify which one. Tesla was based in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. “He type of defined to us… that it’s precisely how they needed to construct Tesla 15–20 years in the past,” Tapscott mentioned. Again then, the availability chain merely wasn’t prepared. Right this moment, it’s.
As an alternative of pouring sources into constructing motors or factories from scratch, Longbow is intentionally sourcing parts with thousands and thousands of miles of validation behind them. “There are such a lot of suppliers making unimaginable merchandise that we will benefit from,” he defined. “The business helps us in what it’s doing.”
Physics First, At all times
Tapscott says Longbow didn’t have to “unlearn” a lot when forming the corporate, largely as a result of its founders got here from motorsport, startups, and consultancy work slightly than conventional OEM forms. What they did undertake, and constantly return to, is physics-based considering.
“We all the time come again to that, which is the ‘why’ each single time,” he mentioned. “It’s all the time ‘why this, okay, why that,’ till we get to that physics first-principle cause. And fairly often, there isn’t a cause—it’s only a alternative.” A transparent instance is Longbow’s battery structure. As an alternative of layering cells inside a number of circumstances and mounts, the corporate questioned whether or not these layers have been really mandatory.
“Cells go right into a case. That case is in one other case. After which it goes into the automobile, which is one other case,” Tapscott defined. “So you find yourself having these further layers of pointless weight and quantity.”
By stripping these layers away and integrating the battery construction instantly into the chassis, Longbow says it has achieved vital stiffness positive factors. Based on Tapscott, the ensuing construction is “no less than twice as stiff because the Lotus chassis,” typically cited as a benchmark for light-weight aluminum sports activities automobiles.
Clearing The Air On In-Wheel Motors
Longbow’s CES look sparked loads of dialog round in-wheel motors. The model touted a possible output of 900 horsepower, however it left us questioning how these motors would have an effect on unsprung mass. Tapscott was fast to make clear that what was proven was an indication, not a manufacturing specification.
“The automobile that we confirmed at CES… was actually an indication,” he mentioned. The objective was to spotlight the pliability of the underlying chassis slightly than preview a finalized drivetrain. For manufacturing, Longbow is sticking with what Tapscott described as a “fantastically engineered, tiny little watchmaker’s motor” mounted inside the automobile. Nonetheless, he sees long-term potential in hub motors, significantly as know-how matures.
“There may be growth work to be carried out on in-wheel motors,” he mentioned. “We do assume there may be positively a future for them… as a result of it offers you a lot extra alternative inside the automobile.” So for now, put a pin within the hub motors, however don’t neglect them. They may pop again up in a future Longbow product.
Weight Loss As A Each day Self-discipline
Ask the place weight was spent most reluctantly, and Tapscott doesn’t level to a single element. As an alternative, he describes an inside philosophy that governs each choice. “Our engineers are given two duties,” he mentioned. “Each day, they should lose no less than one gram from something they’re designing. And the second is the perfect design they’ll do is not any design in any respect.”
That ethos borrows closely from Colin Chapman, whose affect Tapscott freely acknowledges. Nonetheless, Longbow isn’t pursuing minimalism in any respect prices. Some components, like a bodily shifter, exist purely to boost the expertise. “There are issues we’re including… for the theatrics,” he mentioned. “Buyer enjoyment is necessary.”
Additive Manufacturing And A Totally different Manufacturing Mannequin
One of the vital under-the-radar points of Longbow’s strategy could also be the way it’s utilizing additive manufacturing past prototyping. “In the meanwhile, loads of the event prototype automobiles we’ve been producing have been absolutely 3D printed on the outside,” Tapscott mentioned, noting the way it allows speedy iteration throughout growth.
Wanting forward, he sees additive manufacturing altering how low-volume automobiles are supported and customised. As an alternative of sustaining warehouses filled with physique panels throughout completely different markets, elements could possibly be printed domestically, on demand.
Learn: 8 Years Later, Tesla’s Nonetheless Taking $50K Roadster Reservations Musk Promised For 2020
“You’ll be able to really simply have one printer that may print off that half in that nation instantly, with none delay,” he mentioned. The identical strategy might additionally allow personalization with out the price sometimes related to bespoke applications. “It could possibly be fully personalised to you,” Tapscott added. “That’s one thing that hasn’t been explored as a lot in manufacturing automotive.”
An EV That Places The Driver First
In the end, Longbow’s message is that electrification doesn’t should erase driver engagement. “An EV powertrain doesn’t imply a D-segment SUV with the entire further cameras and weight and all the pieces else,” Tapscott mentioned. “These two issues are completely different.”
Longbow needs its automobile to be a software – highly effective, exact, and rewarding- however solely when paired with an engaged driver. Or, as Tapscott put it, borrowing from the corporate’s personal identify: the weapon issues, however the archer issues extra. Trendy EVs are sometimes outlined by their tech-heavy strategy, however that leads instantly to simply being outright heavy. Longbow’s strategy to chopping out the fats may be its sharpest edge out there.
