3 minute read - 8th July 2022
Lunaz significantly expands upcycling operations
Lunaz has announced a significant expansion of its upcycling campus at Silverstone Technology Park, Northamptonshire. The expansion adds 140,000 sq ft to the company’s existing upcycling and electrification plant and quadruples its industrial vehicles remanufacturing and electrification footprint.
It will create additional production space for Lunaz Applied Technologies (LAT), which upcycles diesel-powered industrial vehicles, such as recycling trucks, by restoring them to warrantied-as-new condition and converting them to full electric power.
Lunaz says it is the first facility of its kind in the world to focus purely on the upcycling, re-engineering and electrification of industrial vehicles at scale.
Lunaz has quadrupled the footprint of its upcycled electric vehicle (UEV) campus and created more than 300 new jobs / Picture: Lunaz
In expanding its upcycling campus, Lunaz will create more than 300 new jobs, and is actively recruiting across both manufacturing and electric vehicle specialisms to support its growth.
As well as supporting Europe’s largest fleet operators and several authorities around Britain in achieving their net zero efforts, LAT has invested in technology to reduce its own environmental footprint. The new upcycling campus will be highly thermally efficient and use heating powered by sustainably-generated electricity. All tools used by production experts will be battery-operated and vehicle ramps will be fitted with a kinetic energy recovery system to minimise power usage.
According to Lunaz, when repurposed into UEVs, these end-of-life vehicles are cleaner, less expensive and better-equipped than their all-new equivalents. Independent research commissioned by LAT shows that upcycling a vehicle saves over 80% of its lifetime embedded carbon when compared to replacing a vehicle with an all-new equivalent.
Lunaz plans to produce 1,100 vehicles every year from its Silverstone facility / Picture: Lunaz
David Lorenz, founder of Lunaz, said: “This landmark project represents a huge step forward for Lunaz Applied Technologies and the wider drive towards clean-air mobility. We have dramatically expanded our upcycling campus in Silverstone, Northamptonshire, in response to market sentiment, and the clear and growing demand for upcycled electric vehicles (UEVs).
“We’re backing our own technology, processes and people, and making a powerful statement of intent for our vision of Lunaz Applied Technologies (LAT); it’s also a renewed vote of confidence from us and our investors in the UK as our chosen long-term location for LAT’s manufacturing and R&D activities. This development will enable us to unlock the vast potential of UEV technology to break the replace-with-new cycle and bring us ever closer to carbon neutrality.”
The new facility will house the full range of LAT upcycling processes, showcasing a unique and extensive culture of upcycling and significant commitment to the reuse and improvement of existing vehicles. Lunaz Applied Technologies says its trucks will enter regular service imminently.