Ex-Tesla employee had 'Aha moment' after test-driving the Roadster in 2010 and left to build something transformative

Ex-Tesla employee Daniel Davey had what he calls his ‘Aha moment’ after test-driving the Roadster in 2010, and that spark pushed him to leave and build something transformative.

“That was such a game changer,” he said.

“It proved an electric sports car was possible, and then Tesla stopped making it. No one’s done it since.”

Fifteen years later, he’s back with Longbow, a British startup determined to ‘change how the Earth feels about sports cars.’

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Ex-Tesla employee has an ‘Aha moment’ inspired by the Roadster

For the Longbow team, this is not another EV startup story.

“We’ve all come from big automakers, and we’ve seen what happens when design gets buried under tech,” said design lead Mark Tapscott in a Supercar Blondie interview with the founders of Longbow.

“We’re building something you feel before you even start it.”

The Longbow Roadster, priced from $110,000, targets what Davey calls ‘a wide open green field’ in the sports car world.

“Everyone’s chasing SUVs. We’re chasing driving itself,” he said.

Tapscott explained that everything they create circles back to one question: Does it move you?

“We think of it as three ingredients: lightness, theater, and beauty,” he said.

“Modern cars are incredible machines, but they have lost their soul. We want that moment when you and the car feel alive together.”

Even the name Longbow hints at that connection.

“The bow is nothing without the archer. Neither is our car without its driver,” he smiled.

Longbow is building the car people want to drive

Longbow is built around simplicity.

“Between the three founders, we just make a decision. No committees, no endless debates. Beauty, authenticity, connectedness, that’s what matters,” Davey said.

He laughed, describing the moment they first drove their prototype:

“If you can build one, you can build two. Then three. Four’s even easier,” he said jokingly, encouraged by Tapscott counting on his fingers.

For Longbow, electric doesn’t mean disconnected from the driving experience:

“People think EVs have to be autonomous, covered in screens,” Tapscott said.

“Strip all that away and you get the torque, the power, the feel. Augment the driver, don’t replace them,” Davey bluntly stated.

The team is already rolling out a digital ‘ledger’ to track each car’s story, where it’s been, who’s driven it, and the adventures it’s seen.

“A car should get more valuable because it’s lived,” Davey said.

Looking ahead, the founders want Longbow to stand for something bigger than speed.

“We want to prove that the future of electric cars can still have a soul. That’s the real revolution,” Davey said.