Everrati is extending the lives of iconic cars by turning them into all-electric vehicles.
Everrati is a British company founded by Justin Lunny and Nick Williams that transforms iconic cars into beautifully engineered, fully electric, sustainable, zero-emission classic cars. Thus far, Everrati has electrified cars from esteemed makers such as Land Rover, Porsche 911 and Mercedes-Benz… and the list keeps growing.
Billionaire caught up with Everrati’s Justin Lunny, CEO, and Nick Williams, COO.
How did Everrati begin and how did you choose the company name?
JL: The main drive to create Everrati came when I was living opposite Windsor Castle, and I watched Meghan and Harry drive away after their royal wedding in a prototype electric E-type Jaguar. Also, my now 11-year-old daughter, who was about seven years old at the time, became very worried about climate change, waking in tears after nightmares about the world flooding. I wanted to make a positive change for her future. On our name, ‘EV’ is for ‘electric vehicle’; ‘Ever’ is for keeping iconic cars on the road forever; and ‘rati’ is for the goddess of love and passion: the way that we and our clients feel about the cars.
NW: A lifelong friend wanted a classic car, but he had no mechanical knowledge at all. Justin and I started chatting about how we would create a classic EV car and started dipping into the marketplace. We soon realised how unstructured it was and that there was a real space for turning classic cars into EV classic cars. We decided that, if we were going to do this, we would do it in the same way the manufacturer would have done it, meaning the same quality, safety, replication and everything else; as if Mercedes-Benz, VW or Porsche were going to do it at the time.
Is Everrati a complete career change for you?
JL: My background is in financial technology. I’ve always been involved in projects and businesses where, in the fintech space, you are dealing with other people’s money. It is very regulated and controlled but my passion has always been cars. I could see clean tech and various other innovations and changes coming into the market, such as Tesla, and I wanted to match my passion for cars with technology. In 2016, I sold iCheque, a fintech business dealing with online payments, and I then focused on looking for new projects.
NW: Like Justin, I also have a lifelong passion for cars and I have been completely obsessed with them since childhood. My career started in electronics, and I spent several years working in California. When I moved back to the UK, I worked for Volkswagen for five years and then I spent 19 years with Mercedes-Benz, among other things. I worked through the whole customer journey, but always with an aim to have a full 360-degree view of the industry, so I could later explore avenues much more my own.
Can you describe Everrati’s business model?
NW: We take an original classic vehicle, scan it, weight it and understand that vehicle inside-out. We then take out the powertrain, and scan and weigh it again. We know exactly what the package space is for our motors, batteries, electronics and all the things we need to put in there, and we test it repeatedly to the point we are comfortable that it can be signed off in the same way as an original manufacturer would do, and then we build them to order. We believe that the unique spirit of an iconic classic car is a commodity worth preserving and, for this very reason, all our workmanship is entirely reversible.
What is the cost of electrifying a car and what is installed under the bonnet?
NW: The base price for a converted car is £150,000, plus tax, but there are a lot of options and the price goes up accordingly. We like to see the car once a year, if possible, but otherwise all the cars need to go through a normal service and MOT. Each Everrati car is equipped with brand-new, custom-designed battery packs complete with advanced battery management, cutting-edge temperature control, and the latest regenerative braking technology. Power units are OEM-grade electric motors and, where appropriate, a custom single-speed gearbox is installed, developed by our engineering team.
What was the first classic model Everrati worked on?
JL: The first car we worked on was a Porsche 911 (964) Coupe that was privately funded by us and some friends. We have since converted models including: Land Rover IIA Series (2WD/4WD); Porsche 911 (964) Targa; Porsche 911 (964) Signature Gulf Edition; Superformance GT40; and Mercedes-Benz SL W113 Pagoda.
What is the turnaround from inception to completion?
NW: The vehicles we already manufacture, such as Land Rover and Porsche, take around six months from start to finish, the biggest part of that being the restoration of the vehicle. It’s time-consuming and requires a lot of artisan skills. People also come to us with bespoke requests; then it can take a lot longer: up to 12 months-plus. A lot of the stuff that we do is front-engine, rear-drive configuration, which fits in with a lot of the US muscle and classics as well.
What type of customer do you appeal to?
JL: One of our first customers was a Millennial from California, a hugely successful Bay Area ‘sustainable tech’ guy in his 30s. As a kid, he used to ride in the back of his father’s Porsche 911 (964), and always promised himself one but he always said he would not buy a classic car if it wasn’t electric, which is completely the opposite to the older generations; we are finding this a lot. Millennial and Generation Z customers who have money are from the most sustainable generations and they want sustainable, iconic vehicles. Our research in 2020 around these groups shows they don’t know and don’t care about what’s under a car bonnet. Their idea of what a classic car is varies greatly.
Where is the interest in your cars coming from?
JL: We only started marketing at the end of May 2021. In that time, we had test drives on our Porsche and test drives with media in July, but so far everything has been UK-focused, yet 30 percent of everything we do has been from the US.
What type of car do you drive?
JL: My daily drive is an electric Porsche Taycan Turbo S.
NW: I drive a Land Rover Defender; only because we can’t yet get an EV to tow 3.5 tons, but we’re close!
Source : Billionaire
