BizWizard Web page
93 lu logga

Alumnus Lewis Horne is developing the next generation of electric vehicles

Name: Lewis Horne
Born: 1984
From: Australia
Education: Master’s degree in Entrepreneurship from Lund University
Now living in: Lund
Works as: Founder of the car company Uniti

992 Lundensaren lewis horne            991 Lundensaren car

He is the entrepreneur who is going to change the world of cars. With his Lund-based company Uniti, Lewis Horne is developing the next generation of electric vehicles. Everything started on horseback in Australia, far away from civilisation and even further away from electric cars.


What are you working on today?
I run a company which is going to produce self-driving electric cars; the cars that Apple never built. I work on everything from marketing to design and engineering. I want to be involved in everything, which is why I started this company.

Why cars in particular?
I like developing technology to suit the world we live in. Quite simply, product development. I love technology and how it can affect our lives. Today’s cars have a lot of problems, problems that I want to solve.

However, Uniti is more of a technology company than a car company. Besides our cars having four wheels, there are few similarities with other cars. The way we produce them is different and the supply chain is unlike that of any other car company today.

Did you know what you wanted to do when you applied to university?
I remember when I was a seventeen-year-old working on a ranch far out in the Australian outback, the most remote and cut off part of the world, from a technology perspective. I rode around this enormous ranch on my horse, together with my workmates. We were assisted by helicopters in the work of herding animals. We never got the opportunity to meet the pilots who flew the helicopters, but we really looked up to them. They were clean, they had training and a cool job. So I wanted to be a helicopter pilot. As I rode further on my horse, I thought I would probably prefer to be someone who constructs helicopters, an engineer.
Later, I wanted to be the one who started the company that makes helicopters and finally, I preferred to be the person who says: Let’s build helicopters.

I started studying at university and tried to learn as much as possible and take on as many challenges as I possibly could. It wasn’t really cars as such that I wanted to make. I was just looking for the biggest challenge I could find.

What did you do after you completed your studies at Lund University?
I was involved in several different companies and start-ups. That was what I was here for – to start my own companies. I was also working at Lund University’s social innovation centre (LUSIC) helping others to realise their ideas and start their own companies.

Has your education from Lund University helped you in your career?
Definitely! You may not notice it while you are immersed in your studies, but the University puts you and your brain under considerable pressure, which will come in useful in the future. I wanted to study subjects that were very different from each other, in order to see the whole picture more easily and to acquire broader knowledge. This is of great benefit to me today.

What do you like best about what you are doing today?
It might sound crazy, but I like the unpleasant feeling you get when you are about to take on a new challenge. Imagine you are standing at the foot of Mount Everest, looking up towards the peak and thinking you will never manage to get all the way up there. That feeling fades a little more with each step you take towards the summit. I quite simply enjoy the challenge.

Petter Edström
94 lund university logotype