“Our idea was born from an observation: in summer, there were already a lot of vehicles for getting around: electric longboards, electric scooters, etc. While in winter, we were a bit stuck with the concept of the snowmobile, which draws the entire market, but which is also an extremely heavy, polluting and noisy means of transport. », Remembers Gaston Lachaise, project manager of the North American subsidiary of Moonbikes.
Faced with what it saw as a lack of diversity in the existing offer, the company, which was part of the regional delegation for CES 2022, developed a fully electric device, but also lighter.
With the key, a motor of 3 kW associated with two on-board batteries of 35 milliampere. “Enough to provide it with up to 3 hours of autonomy”, confirms Gaston Lachaise.
To recharge its vehicles, the young shoot has already planned two possibilities: extract the battery and recharge it at home (in the space of 2:30 on average), or plug its device directly into an electrical outlet.
Last year, it started by installing around fifty units in five stations in the Northern Alps, located near its R&D basin. And despite the Covid, these have met with great success, especially with customers of rental companies.
« Despite a first launch in the midst of a health crisis and marked by the closure of ski lifts, we had a first commercial success which enabled us to validate our project, and in particular, the interest of the rental model in addition to our pillar of departure, which remains the sale to individuals », Explains his project manager.
The opening of a subsidiary in the United States
Since then, the company has already received pre-orders from Scandinavia, the United States and Canada and has sold almost all of the 400 units scheduled to be produced in 2022 in France.
« Among these 400 units, 100 will be intended for the American market and 300 for the French market. The objective is to start with these customers and ensure their satisfaction, before addressing more widely the American market which already represents, for the time being, 90,000 of the 130,000 snowmobiles sold each year, worldwide. ».
And this, knowing that in fact, this market could be much larger because by offering “greener” snowmobiles with their electric motorization, 95% of its customers are in fact equipped from scratch. Moreover, from next year, the young company intends to reach 1,500 snowmobiles produced, thus leading it straight on the road of exponential growth.
For now, the company is betting on a sale price of 7,300 euros per unit (against 8,500 dollars for the American market). And to take charge of this deployment, two people (including the founder of the company) moved to Boulder, Colorado, while the rest of the 20 employees remain in Haute-Savoie.
“Being installed in Boulder allows us to occupy a central place to attack the American market », Judge Gaston Lachaise.
A second round of funding and a factory in the United States on the program
On the manufacturing side, Moonbikes claims a certain number of French parts, including the chassis, the battery box, as well as the batteries, followed by an assembly carried out by a subsidiary of the German group Bosch, Alpsolu, in its factory. located in Haute-Savoie.
After completing a first fundraising of $ 5.2 million last September, with an external investment fund and business angels to finance the production of the 400 snowmobiles announced for 2022, Moonbikes is studying the possibility of also opening a manufacturing site across the Atlantic, with the help of a second round of funding.
And his presence at CES, despite the many defections of large groups, has tended to confirm these forecasts for the time being. “This was our first CES and it would be hard to imagine how we could handle more influx of inquiries and interviews. We have seen very traditional French and foreign media, but we also have YouTubers, Instagram influencers who filmed our product. ».
And to add:
“We also met potential suppliers, particularly of batteries: we can no longer count how many we met at this show, and this is of particular interest to us for our factory project”.
The mountain plan, set up by Laurent Wauquiez, will moreover have enabled the young shoot to obtain, a few weeks ago, an innovation aid of 175,000 dollars in order to continue to develop more sustainable innovations, also allowing to diversify the tourist offer.
