David Beckham is investing in Lunaz, a rapidly growing technology company that upcycles and converts motor vehicles to its proprietary electric powertrain.
Lunaz provides a proven response to the requirement legislated by global governments to sustainably transition vehicle fleets to clean-air powertrains.
David Beckham is joined as an investor by the Reuben and Barclay families and Alexander Dellal. They join founding investors; Navid Mirtorabi and CJ Jones who are both entrepreneurs and investors in clean-tech startups. Through his investment arm Beckham has successfully identified and backed fast-growth start-ups in sectors as diverse as eSports and athletic recovery products. He took a 10% stake in the company.
The company established its global leadership in vehicle electrification through its work furthering the legacies of the most celebrated classic cars in history. Bringing to market the world’s first fully-electric Range Rover, Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Jaguar sports cars through its Lunaz Design brand. It did this to much global customer and critical acclaim. The 1961 Bentley Continental Flying Spur by Lunaz was awarded by BBC Top Gear in its ‘Electric Vehicle Awards’ issue.
Since Lunaz started production of its first cars in 2019 it has drawn an entirely new generation to some of the most revered marques in history. They have been compelled by the answer electrification provides to the key questions of reliability, usability and sustainability that surround classic car ownership. This growth has accelerated as individual and hospitality buyers across the globe rebalance their fleets in response to increasing pressure from legislators to limit the use of high-emissions vehicles in city-centres.
The company is headquartered in Silverstone, Britain’s advanced automotive technology heartland. It is the fastest-growing and now largest company by manufacturing space and employees within the Silverstone Technology Cluster.
Following this injection of growth capital Lunaz announced ambitious plans to grow its offering to the upcycling and electrification of industrial vehicles on a mass global scale. Lunaz will begin with industrial HGV vehicles including refuse trucks, of which 80 million currently exist in the UK, EU and USA alone.
The Lunaz remanufacturing and electrification process will extend the life of up to 70% of the existing weight and embedded carbon within a vehicle. It also saves fleet operators significant costs compared with replacing existing vehicles with new. For example, a municipal authority could save more than 43% in the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of an upcycled and electrified refuse truck versus replacing their existing fleet with new equivalent electric vehicles.
The Lunaz proprietary powertrain has been developed under the technical leadership of Managing Director and Technical Lead Jon Hilton. As a global leader in powertrain engineering he has won three F1 World Championships as Technical Director and pioneered the use of hybrid technology from motorsport for mainstream industrial and passenger vehicles. He successfully grew and exited Flybrid in 2016. The Lunaz proprietary powertrain is modular in design meaning it can be applied to nearly every class, size and classification of vehicle.
By 2030 when internal combustion engine (ICE) bans in major markets come into effect, more than 2 billion conventionally powered vehicles will exist on the planet. Remanufacturing, upcycling and electrification can prevent a large proportion of these vehicles from being scrapped. This approach is in line with the principles of the rapidly emerging circular economy.
