“Knowing that most of the electric scooters sold in France are produced in China, is it ecological to travel with carbon-free vehicles produced so far away? », asks Fabrice Furlan. No, unless they are produced in France. It is in response to this problem that this 47-year-old entrepreneur is launching an offer of French electric scooters.
After working for twenty years at Decathlon in various positions, in 2019 he launched his first company called Plume. From November 10 to 13, the company presents its products at the Made in France trade fair, located at Porte de Versailles. They will be marketed from the first half of 2023.
With congestion problems in large cities, the use of alternatives to the car is on the rise. The electric scooter market is experiencing strong demand. According to the Federation of Micromobility Professionals (FP2M), co-founded by Fabrice Furlan, 900,000 electric scooters were sold in France in 2021, mainly of Chinese origin. That’s an increase of 42%.
Differentiate from the Chinese offer
“Chinese scooters are mainly for occasional and leisure use”, says Fabrice Furlan. Plume therefore offers two models of scooters for everyday use, whose qualities must be above all safety, durability and autonomy.
“Our objective is above all to decarbonize the industrial and logistical stages of scooters as much as possible”, he points out. The scooters are also designed so that the user can easily repair them himself. The batteries – which come from Asia – can be removed in ten minutes, and Plume offers to send the spare parts directly to the customer.
“We are anti-planned obsolescence. Our goal is to sell less and better, specifies Fabrice Furlan. We also want to develop the second-hand market. This requires sustainable products. »
Decarbonize production steps
“For the “allure” nib model, 82% of the components are produced in France, 80% of which within a radius of 50 km around our offices”, located in the Hauts-de-France, now the leading automotive production region in France, emphasizes congratulations Fabrice Furlan. “An ideal location to be close to suppliers. »
After being audited by Afnor, the French Association for Standardization, Plume was able to obtain the Origine France Garantie label. This ensures that the place where the product takes on its essential characteristics is located in France and that at least 50% of the unit cost price is acquired in France. “A guarantee of confidence for the consumer”, according to Fabrice Furlan.
The economic advantages of the short circuit
With the Covid crisis and the war in Ukraine, all component prices have increased, but the short circuit has advantages from this point of view: “As we manufacture in France, we are not affected by the logistics increases linked to containers from China, nor the problems of currency fluctuations: we manufacture in euros and we remain in euros, welcomes Fabrice Furlan. In the end, we only suffer from increases in materials. »