Plume Mobilité: a French booming start-up based in Lille Metropole

After several years working for Decathlon, Fabrice Furlan launched his company in 2019 : Plume Mobilité. He gave us an interview. According to him, Plume Mobility results from both contextual elements and a personal conviction. For him, manufacturing products thousands of kilometers away from France is a nonsense. He wanted to develop a locally manufactured product. Thus, the company has designed an electric scooter called "Plume Allure" that corresponds to the desires of consumers to get around more safely and ecologically. More generally speaking, it participates in the transformation of people’s travel habits.

Since 2019, the company has expanded. From now on, Plume Mobility exports in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy. 2022 is a turning point : in mid-March, Plume Mobilité launched its crowdfunding campaign.

Plume Allure is made in France (at 82%) contributing to make it ecological : research and development is carried out in Saint-André-lez-Lille where Plume Mobilité has its headquarters. The mechanical structures of the scooters are manufactured and assembled in Roubaix. The electronic parts are supplied by Eiffage Energie System located in Verquin, near Béthune. The company is also supplied with plastic parts by Hybster's Neuville-en-Ferrain factory. The batteries are produced by the start-up Gouach located in Bordeaux and the connectivity by Cosmo Connected located in Paris. Finally, the recycling of the scooters is ensured by Ecologic while the batteries by Screlec. Plume Allure is therefore certified "Origine France Garantie".

Plume Mobility has rethought the practice of scooter under the prism of current needs: safety and durability. To ensure them safety, the company increased the visibility of the scooter. Plume Allure is equipped with powerful LED strips on the front frame, headlights, turn signals on both sides as well as position and braking lights on the rear. The scooter is equipped with a wide platform and large wheels

(8 to 10 inches) and there also is a maximum speed blocked at 25 km/h and 5 driving modes to suit each user: pedestrian, eco, standard, sport, mountain.

In addition to safety, the ecological aspect of Plume Allure is also central. To answer it, Plume Mobility has a double strategy: to ensure the reparability of the major part of the scooter's spare parts and to guarantee a local anchoring from the research to the recycling. For example, Plume Allure’s battery can be dismantled cell by cell. The cells are not welded together but assembled by bolting. Moreover, the company has chosen to use high-strength steel to limit the risk of breakage. Doing so, the scooter's lifetime is longer.

The company meets the goal that are pursued by Europe. The European union encourages indeed the deployment of bicycle paths, public transport and micro-mobility. The company also embodies the re-industrialization of European member states that have been hurt by the pandemic. For this reason, Plume Allure has been financially supported by the European Union through ERDF and also received a grant from Lille Metropole.