Karim Tarzaïmet Imi, the eco-responsible scooter. – Célérifère SAS
- Célérifère, a Vendée start-up (in Dompierre-sur-Yon), has designed an eco-responsible e-scooter, called Imi.
- The town halls of Vertou, near Nantes, and La Roche-sur-Yon in Vendée have ordered some for their employees.
The town halls of Vertou in Loire-Atlantique and La Roche-sur-Yon in Vendée have already ordered some for their employees.
Celebrate, a Vendée start-up (in Dompierre-sur-Yon), has designed an eco-responsible scooter, called Imi. This “fun and responsible” machine is manufactured in a short circuit by local service providers and is above all eco-responsible.
The idea of creating Imi – which means “common sense” in Japanese – began to germinate in the mind of Karim Tarzaïm (project leader and co-founder of Celebrate) in 2011 when he despairs of not being able to move forward in Parisian traffic jams on a snowy day. He tried different means of transport for several years and finally decided to invest in an electric scooter in 2015. “I then discovered Paris by doing all my trips with it. I quickly realized that this machine had enormous potential. But his “Chinese made by Romanians” scooter also causes him a lot of technical inconvenience. “A lot of problems that cannot always be repaired …”
A chance meeting with a surfboard manufacturer from Sablé
Supported by his boss Charles Barreau, at the head of DSO (industrial project management company) and president of the environmental association
Ruptur Vendée, and surrounded by Amandine Tilmont for marketing and Laurent Buffet, manufacturer of wooden skateboards and surfboards in Les Sables-d’Olonne, Karim Tarzaïm then imagines a product whose priority is eco-responsibility. “Anything that is not eco-responsible, we fire it…”, he insists. With one idea in mind: “To be able to easily dismantle it so that it can be reused, recycled and upgraded. “
For the design, Karim then banned glue, welding and painting. He chooses aluminum and stainless steel, recyclable materials. It is a factory in Epesses in Vendée which takes care of “all the machining and sheet metal work”. The handles are made with scraps of leather from a manufacturer of a luxury product, located in the region. The deck is made of wood and made in Chantonnay (Vendée). The non-slip (on the deck) is also respectful with “sand microbeads”, and not rubber or plastic as on traditional scooters.
More expensive yes, but repairable
“We are doing the maximum we can do in terms of eco-responsibility and sustainability, but there is no such thing as a perfect product,” admits Karim, however. The battery is indeed made in China. “There are no other producers than them,” he regrets. It is nevertheless removable, rechargeable (with a range of 15 km) in three hours and repairable at the end of its life. “Only 15% of the battery cannot be recycled. “
The price of this 12.5 kg electric scooter is 1,500 euros excluding taxes. More expensive necessarily than a Chinese or American product. But, Imi is “repairable and environmentally friendly”. Intended for employees of companies and communities, this eco-responsible scooter also appeals to universities (Nantes and Le Mans). Since its marketing at the beginning of the year, about twenty have been sold.