A game-changing swappable vehicle battery
Sitting in the back seat of his parents’ car on late-night drives, Rory could identify the make and model of the vehicle ahead just by looking at its tail lights. It was an early sign of a passion that would eventually become a business – and a mission.
What if recharging your electric car took the same time as filling up with petrol?
Rory Bone’s obsession with cars started at an early age, a passion that ultimately led him to found 4SB Mobility, a clean technology company with a deceptively simple proposition: a swappable battery system that gives drivers up to 90 additional miles of range in just two minutes, with no cables, no waiting, and no downtime.
Rory’s route into entrepreneurship was shaped by a broad academic foundation.
After studying at Strathclyde University, he went on to complete a Masters in Product Design Engineering – a joint degree delivered by the Glasgow School of Art and the University of Glasgow. That combination of engineering rigour and design thinking would prove to be exactly the right preparation for the challenge ahead.
Rory worked for Jaguar Land Rover, NCR Atleos, and spent years working in system design for the NHS during the pandemic, but his fascination with cars remained.
In 2023, his career trajectory changed unexpectedly when a former university contact got in touch to ask: “Are you still interested in cars and EVs? There’s a programme you might be interested in”. His partner and friends had been encouraging him to get back into automotive, so this was the gentle push he needed. He got on the Converge programme, began building 4SB Mobility while still working at the NHS, and never looked back.
The premise behind 4SB Mobility is rooted in a straightforward but pressing problem.
The shift to electric vehicles is accelerating driven by government policy, manufacturer investment and growing consumer demand – but the charging infrastructure hasn’t kept pace. For the millions of drivers without a private garage or driveway to charge their car overnight, the prospect of owning an EV can feel out of reach.
Rory’s solution draws on an existing concept – swappable batteries – but takes it in a new direction.
Rather than swapping a vehicle’s primary traction battery (a bulky, expensive and technically complex undertaking that only fits specific cars), 4SB has developed a secondary, modular battery unit. It’s compact enough to fit a wide range of vehicle types, requires only a small-footprint swap station and works alongside the car’s existing battery system. Market research suggests that 90 miles covers around 98% of typical journeys – enough to handle the daily commute, the school run and most everything else in between.
“Public transport certainly has a huge role, but I’ve always loved the idea of private car ownership,” Rory says. “If you have a couple of kids and a dog, and you want to go to the beach at the weekend, you’re not cycling or taking the bus. If you don’t have access to a car, you don’t end up going to the beach, and your life shrinks.“
“The last thing we want is for cars to be reserved for those that can charge overnight. We’ve got an incredible team behind this mission, and without them 4SB wouldn’t be around today.”
In two and a half years, 4SB Mobility has moved from concept to working prototype.
The company has secured investment from the UK’s most active angel investment firm as well as grant funding from a range of sources. The team operates out of a workshop at MSIP in Dundee, a former tyre factory repurposed as a hub for advanced manufacturing and clean technology.
The company’s current focus is fleet vans. An agreement with one of the UK’s largest utility companies has opened the door to real-world trials, with swap stations being rolled out at shared sites around the Midlands.
For fleet operators, the appeal is stark: instead of taking a van off the road for hours to recharge, a driver can swap a battery and be back on the road in minutes.
The domestic market – individual drivers – remains the longer-term vision. The team are also working with Shell to explore deploying battery swap stations at fuel forecourts – in contrast to EV charging bays which require huge amounts of space and new grid connections.
Rory took part in the Converge programme in both 2023 and 2024, winning a special KickStart prize in his first year. He’s candid about how much it shaped him – and equally candid about what surprised him.
The business training was invaluable for someone coming from a technical background. Cash flows, accounting, HR, financial modelling, investor decks – none of it came naturally but Converge provided a structured, high-quality grounding. “I was able to ask stupid questions, just stick my hand up at any time,” he says. “It always felt welcoming, and very engaging.”
When asked about the personal qualities that help founders survive the early stages, Rory’s answer cuts through the usual entrepreneurial clichés. “There’s listening,” he says, “and then there’s actually listening. Whoever you’re talking to, their experiences and ideas could help your technology in ways you’ve never even considered. You have something to learn from everyone you meet in life – pay attention.”
It’s a philosophy that mirrors the technology the 4SB team is building. The most elegant solutions, Rory believes, are usually those that strip back the inessential. “You could row the Atlantic, heaving and hauling, day in, day out – or you could just stick up a sail and let the wind carry you.”
For a boy who once recognised cars by their tail lights in the dark, the direction of travel has always been clear. He just found a smarter way to get there.