RBW EV is a UK-based manufacturer of hand-crafted electric sports cars. It’s a nearly eight-year-old family business, and family is important to founder Peter Swain. For example, the company’s name, RBW, represents the first letter of each name of Swain’s children, Rose, Becky, and Wesley.
For years, RBW has hand-built its GT and Roadster models overseas, including a little more than a year in its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Lichfield, England, which opened in late 2023.
Last year, the company unveiled its first left-hand drive Roadster and GT models at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Both cars are based on iconic British sports cars from the 1960s and 1970s and targeted towards RBW’s single largest market: the United States. The legendary Italian design firm Pininfarina originally designed the RBW GT EV coupe model.
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Not only are these high-end vehicles designed for the U.S. consumer, but RBW is going to make them in America. Future production of the GT and the Roadster models will occur in Danville, Virginia, at RBW’s new $8 million U.S. factory set to open in September 2025.
Peter Swain, CEO of RBW EV Cars, told Industrial Equipment News (IEN) that the company wanted to establish a local assembly presence. The new Virginia facility is expected to create 50 to 100 jobs initially. With further expansion as production scales, Swain foresees as many as 200 new positions. The new roles include spots in engineering, assembly, quality control, and support functions.
Swain says he picked Virginia because of the state’s established manufacturing ecosystem, highly skilled workforce, and strategic location for North American distribution.
“This facility will enable RBW to scale production while preserving the craftsmanship and quality that define the brand. To support this transition, RBW has already been training U.S. operatives at its UK facility,” Swain adds.
The market for these hand-built classic cars is driven by collectors and enthusiasts—customers who want a blend of heritage design with modern EV technology. Swain says RBW’s vehicles offer a unique alternative to traditional classic car restorations by providing a brand-new car with reliability, sustainability, and performance without compromising style.
Depending on the model and customizations, prices will vary, but the cars start at around $139,000. Each vehicle is meticulously crafted, with build times averaging around 500 hours per car.
Unlike many retrofit or conversion options, Swain says RBW’s proprietary EV system is engineered from the ground up, integrating OEM-compliant safety. The vehicles include a modular powertrain architecture; optimized weight distribution; bespoke battery management and software; and integrated regenerative braking and intelligent energy recovery.
Both the Roadster and GT models (a coupe version of the Roadster) have a 150-mile range, can go from 0-60 mph in eight seconds and have an electronically-limited 90 mph top speed.
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