The announcement was made on the day Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer visited the Lunaz campus at Silverstone [Tuesday 12th December 2023]. The Leader of the Opposition toured the world’s only dedicated industrial vehicle upcycling and electrification facility, where Lunaz is accelerating the transition to clean-air mobility by converting existing commercial and passenger vehicles to its proprietary zero-emissions electric powertrains.
During the visit, Sir Keir met members of the Lunaz team and inspected commercial vehicles at different stages of the restoration and upcycling process, developed entirely in-house and using Lunaz’ proprietary battery and powertrain technology.
Upcycling and electrifying an existing industrial vehicle saves more than 80 percent of the embedded carbon versus replacing it with a new one: a Lunaz upcycled refuse truck is also better equipped to augment safety, comfort and driver wellbeing and represents a 25 percent capital saving over its as-new equivalent for local authorities and business operators.
Sir Keir used the visit to state the importance of clean-technology companies like Lunaz and the role they play in accelerating the critical global shift towards net zero. The commercial vehicle upcycling and electrification sector, in which Lunaz is an international pioneer, is predicted to grow tenfold over the next five years, driven by the global transition to net zero and clean-air mobility.
Lunaz itself has experienced rapid growth in both its passenger car and industrial vehicle upcycling operations. When it was founded in 2018, the Silverstone factory occupied 7,000 sq ft and employed just five people: today it extends to more than 250,000 sq ft. The company is on a roadmap to up-cycle 1,100 vehicles per year and will double its workforce to enter full production through 2024 and beyond. A global network of facilities will follow with Silverstone placed as the permanent R&D and engineering hub for a rapidly expanding international company.
This success has been underpinned by strong commercial validation. Local Authorities including Buckinghamshire County Council alongside Biffa, the UK’s leading sustainable waste management company, have all committed to sustainably re-profiling significant proportions of their fleets by upcycling and electrifying existing vehicles with Lunaz.
A selection of the world’s leading clean-technology and institutional investors have affirmed the company’s long-term strategic importance to the global clean-tech economy by backing the company through a series of private fundraising rounds.
“Fast-growth clean technology companies like Lunaz show the incredible talent, innovation and ingenuity that exists here in Britain” said Sir Keir during his visit. “We will back to the hilt the ambition and innovation of British business. The UK has enormous potential to take a global leadership position in the critical path to net zero industry. Companies like Lunaz show how it can be done.”
David Lorenz, who founded Lunaz in 2018, explained that he had done so to accelerate the world’s critical drive to net zero by offering a dramatically more sustainable and economically alternative to the current replace-with-new cycle.
“By unlocking the power of the circular economy, we are transitioning commercial and passenger fleets at pace and scale, in doing so saving millions of tonnes in embedded carbon and billions in pounds” said Mr Lorenz. “Known as one of the UK’s fastest growing clean-tech companies, I can show that we [Lunaz] show no signs of slowing. Today, we can confirm our robust roadmap to double the number of skilled clean-tech jobs by the middle of 2025 [from 175 to 350 people], affirming our commitment to the UK and Silverstone as a global centre of excellence in clean-tech industry. We welcome all policy that supports and stimulates growth in this vital and vibrant sector; we’re encouraged to see political leaders engaging with and recognising the enormous power of the circular economy practices employed by Lunaz to accelerate our critical path to net zero.”
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