Charge Cars is a pure electric vehicle manufacturer headquartered in London, UK, later moved to Silverstone, UK. The brand was established in 2016 by Russian-origin founder Vadim Shagaleev, focusing on reborn classic internal combustion engine models as pure electric versions. Its first and only product - "'67", is a fully developed pure electric luxury muscle car based on a 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback body shell with official Ford authorization, developed from scratch. The vehicle features hand-built construction, a full carbon fiber body, and quad-motor four-wheel drive as its technical core, limited globally to 499 units. After multiple setbacks including parent company bankruptcy administration and acquisition by new owners, Charge Cars relaunched in early 2025 under a new management team and capital injection, moving the global headquarters from London to Silverstone Circuit Technology Park, UK, accelerating final development and striving to deliver to waiting customers as soon as possible.
Charge Cars' story began in 2016. That year, Charge Cars Ltd was officially registered in London, UK, founded by Russian-origin engineer Vadim Shagaleev, with the company’s early address located at Stockley Close in western London. Leveraging his compatriot relationship with the founder of Arrival, another British electric commercial vehicle startup, Shagaleev established a close technical sharing and cooperative relationship between the two companies.
In 2018, Charge Cars first publicly revealed an electric modified prototype based on the classic Ford Mustang, attracting widespread attention from the industry and media. In 2019, the brand showcased its electric Mustang prototype at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Subsequently, the brand underwent a long period of design iteration and engineering verification, finally completing the overall design of the ’67 model in 2021. In 2022, Charge Cars officially launched and opened pre-orders for the ’67 electric Mustang, announcing plans to limit production to 499 units, with a starting price of £350,000 per unit.
Despite smooth project progress and significant media exposure along with potential orders, the company faced challenges due to high pricing, fierce market competition, and poor financing. On May 31, 2024, Charge Cars Ltd officially entered government receivership (administration). The brand failed to complete any vehicle deliveries before its collapse, and an external receivership agency was appointed to handle the company’s business, assets, and intellectual property.
In January 2025, the brand welcomed a turning point. A consortium composed of private investors acquired Charge Cars, with investment representative Paul Abercrombie serving as the new CEO. The new owners moved the company’s global headquarters from London to Silverstone, the heart of British racing, and began accelerating the final development of the ’67 model and customer deliveries.
Charge Cars adheres to a minimalist product strategy, with only one model under its banner: the ’67 (also known as "'67 by Charge Cars").
The ’67 is a pure electric luxury muscle car developed based on the 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback body profile, with official authorization from Ford. In terms of appearance, the ’67 faithfully retains the iconic body lines and proportions of the original 1967 Mustang. The front is equipped with ring-shaped LED headlights and a closed black cover, while the rear retains the highly recognizable three-bar grille-style LED taillights. The body panels use lightweight composite materials. The overall styling incorporates modern details into the retro design—black trim replaces traditional chrome plating, and features like embedded door handles further enhance the simple, modern aesthetic.
The cockpit adopts a minimalist modern design, equipped with a full LCD digital instrument cluster, a vertical large touchscreen center console, a custom three-spoke multifunction steering wheel, and a button-style gear selector. In terms of luxury configurations, it offers custom audio systems, smartphone connectivity (Apple/Android), an anti-lock braking system, traction control, adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, and other modern assisted functions.
Regarding power, the ’67 is equipped with a quad-motor four-wheel drive system, with each wheel independently driven by a motor. It delivers a combined maximum output of 400 kW (approximately 536 hp) and a peak torque of 1,520 Nm. Acceleration from 0 to 62 mph (approximately 100 km/h) takes only 3.9 seconds, with a top speed of 250 km/h. The vehicle carries a modular battery pack with a capacity of approximately 63 to 64 kWh. The WLTP pure electric driving range is approximately 322 km, supporting up to 50 kW DC fast charging. The car is globally limited to 499 units. Before the 2024 bankruptcy, the planned pricing started from £350,000. After the 2025 relaunch, the starting price in some regions was temporarily raised to approximately $450,000–$460,000 in promotional materials.
From its establishment until bankruptcy in 2024, Charge Cars was unable to deliver any vehicles to customers and did not generate any actual operating revenue. After the 2025 relaunch, the new team accelerated development testing work at the Silverstone headquarters, and some prototypes entered the road testing phase and opened for media test drives. The brand publicly stated multiple times that its order reserve includes "multiple waiting customers". As of May 2026, Charge Cars has not disclosed specific pre-order deposits received or delivery volumes.
Charge Cars' technical capabilities reflect the UK's deep accumulation in racing engineering and small-batch high-end car manufacturing. Notably, CCO Mark Roberts worked at McLaren for nearly 30 years, with his experience tracing back to McLaren F1 R&D. Multiple engineers in the team also have backgrounds working with F1 teams, WEC teams, and British sports car brands.
Quad-motor independent drive and torque vectoring control: The ’67 uses four motors to drive the four wheels separately, achieving complete independent control of torque for each wheel. Charge Cars' self-developed dynamic behavior control system significantly improves grip and handling limits through independent vector control of single-wheel torque, and the motors can also rotate in reverse to enhance vehicle flexibility.
Full carbon fiber body: The ’67 is a typical application of full carbon fiber bodies in high-end customized mass-production cars. The main body structure uses carbon fiber material to achieve a balance between high strength and lightweight properties, complemented by lightweight composite panels. The overall vehicle weight reduction effect is significant, compensating for the extra mass brought by the battery system.
Battery and Shared Platform: The battery system utilizes LG Chem's 2170 cylindrical battery cells, sealed into carbon fiber modules with 204 cells each. The whole vehicle carries 17 modules—9 sealed in the middle of the floor and 8 sealed in the rear seat area. The triple-electric system shares technical foundations with another British startup, Arrival, but the product orientation is completely different. Charge Cars serves as the technical pioneer and verification role for the quad-motor performance solution.
Charge Cars takes the UK as its R&D and manufacturing center, with its production bases, engineering teams, and global headquarters all located within the country. The brand positions itself to target ultra-high-net-worth customer groups globally. Its main target markets cover North America, Europe, and the Middle East, which are core consumption areas for high-end luxury cars.
After the 2025 relaunch, the brand’s exposure in international media significantly increased. This included content dissemination and media test drives targeting the US market, as well as continued participation in top-tier international automotive cultural events such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed. As of 2026, the brand has not established an official sales channel in mainland China. Currently, global customers place orders and communicate regarding customization mainly through the Charge Cars official website ordering system.
Charge Cars has established a future path centered on "focus on core products, lean mass production, and global deployment." The final engineering verification and delivery of the ’67 remain the brand’s current core work focus. The new team has relocated the global headquarters to the Silverstone Circuit Technology Park. This location offers sufficient engineering facilities and testing grounds, enabling the efficient completion of the final stage of vehicle development and mass production preparation. The founder’s goal of producing 499 units has not changed for the time being; after the relaunch, the brand may maintain this quantity unchanged or make limited adjustments.
Furthermore, the new owners have clearly stated that "the Charge Cars brand possesses huge global potential." If the ’67 can complete its 499-unit limited production and deliver smoothly, Charge Cars may subsequently develop more models based on the same quad-motor platform, expanding into limited customization product lines suitable for different retro styles or original designs. At the same time, the brand is exploring authorized dealership or direct sales models in more high-end global consumption markets to further enhance brand influence and commercial sustainability. With the continued growth in global demand for classic car electrification restoration, Charge Cars is expected to emerge from the survival crisis of its startup phase and become one of the British representative brands highly regarded in this niche field.
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