MATT BRUEGGEMAN, CO-FOUNDER OF FLUX, GREW UP DRIVING SUVS BUT THEN traveled abroad AND SAW THE WORLD FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

My name is Matt Brueggeman, Co-Founder and CEO of Flux. Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, my family had 3 large SUVs for 3 people. Regardless if we were hauling concrete, which to be honest I only did once, or driving three blocks to see a friend, we drove. Want a coffee? Jump in the car. It was the way I interacted with the outside world. After college, I moved to Beijing, China and discovered that isn’t the way it is everywhere. The sheer amount of small electric vehicles on the road was awe inspiring. My co-founders and I opened Flux because we wanted to explore how small electric vehicles could provide people in the United States with another transportation option.

DRIVING A CAR SHORT DISTANCES DOESN’T MAKE SENSE

Upon opening in 2014 our focus was first to talk with people, listen and learn about the problems they experience.  We started to see sales all across the nation, not just in the urban areas where we expected, but in smaller towns as well. Through thousands of personal interviews with individuals throughout the country, we discovered that there is a similar sense among people that getting in the car and going, no matter the destination, is just the way it is. People agree that a car makes sense for long distance transportation (e.g., seeing family on the weekends, going fishing, etc.). However, for short distance transportation a car isn’t the best option because of the hassle of dealing with parking and traffic congestion combined with the cost of maintenance and ownership. It doesn’t make sense to drive a 4,000 pound vehicle a mile to get a quart of milk.

THERE IS A BETTER WAY

The Flux EM1 solves these annoying problems because it is the perfect balance of range, charge time and speed for short distance transportation. It is a blast to ride, easy to park, easy to haul and extremely low maintenance. The Flux EM1 is Your Local Ride™.

MAKING THE FLUX EM1 A REALITY REQUIRED A NEW STRATEGY

After we developed our marketing strategy it came time to make it a reality and as we moved forward we slowly began to understand that the standard dealership model for gas vehicles does not work for electric vehicles. A standard gas vehicle dealership makes a large percentage of its income off of vehicle service. Just think, on a normal Tuesday at a car dealership how many people are buying cars versus how many people are getting their car serviced? It is not even close. Because the Flux EM1 has extremely low maintenance and does not require regular service, a standard gas vehicle dealership will make far less money servicing the Flux EM1 than it will servicing gas vehicles. Therefore, to maintain their operation and carry the Flux EM1, standard dealerships have to significantly increase the sale price of the vehicle. To offer the convenience of immediate delivery through a dealership, we would have to charge far more for the Flux EM1 than our clients should have to pay. This does not make sense.

PEOPLE STILL WANT TO OWN VEHICLES

The startup Electric Vehicle industry’s approach to disrupting this existing market has primarily been focused on sharing models where the consumer can use a phone application to rent an electric scooter or electric moped for point to point use. On its face, this is a helpful service because it is allowing real time use of a vehicle at a low cost without having to take the responsibility for or pay the expense of ownership, even if it is generally only available in big cities. However, in our research we have found that it is clear that the majority of people still far prefer owning vehicles as opposed to sharing. Why? Because if a person uses a sharing service consistently that person can easily spend more in a year than what purchasing the vehicle outright costs all the while not accruing the value of the vehicle. Also, by owning, the vehicle is always available to ride!

WE MANUFACTURE TO ORDER TO KEEP OUR PRICE LOW AND MAINTAIN OUR INDEPENDENCE

One of the major challenges of starting up in the motor vehicle sector is inventory. Maintaining inventory is extremely expensive, especially when options and accessories are considered. In approaching investors, we found that investors were most interested in the sharing model even though our research showed our approach better met the customers’ needs. It was then that we decided to bootstrap and proceed by manufacturing to order. Manufacturing to order does mean that our clients have to wait a little bit for delivery but through this process we are able to keep the price of the Flux EM1 low and, most importantly, maintain our independence, which makes us more responsive to our clients and gives us the flexibility to listen.

WE SPOKE WITH OUR CLIENTS AND LISTENED TO THEIR ADVICE OF SERVICING THE RV COMMUNITY

As we researched, we discovered that in most markets we needed to first establish the need for short distance transportation before discussing the benefits of the Flux EM1. Over the years, we spoke to clients and people told us repeatedly to take a serious look at providing short distance transportation solutions for the RV industry. They told us that most RVers at some point consider hauling car for short distance transportation but that it is a hassle and expensive. Without a car, if a RVer wants to pop out to the store the question becomes do I want to spend hours to break camp or just go without? Bicycles are fun for exercise but not great for all trips, and golf carts are good for families or hauling but are overkill for individuals and especially difficult to transport. The Flux EM1 as Your Local Ride is the perfect fit to get around short distances, but we heard from some people that they think by buying a moped a RVer would just be buying more problems to solve: how to haul, how to register, how to charge, and so on. We listened, we learned and we developed Local Ride Packages that completely solve the problems RVers face when deciding to buy a Local Ride. With our Local Ride Packages our clients can spend less time dealing with or trying to fix a dumb problem and more time having fun and exploring!