Meet Luke Gavin and Olly Jones, co-founders of elmo
We’re Luke Gavin and Olly Jones, co-founders of the electric car subscription service elmo.
What inspired you to launch your business and what is the end goal?
Luke’s background at Octopus Energy and Element (a strategy consultancy focussed on cleantech) led him to the realisation that switching motorists to electrified rather than fuel-powered transport ought to be a low hanging fruit in decarbonising the transport sector - and reducing annual emissions generally (transport contributes 26% of UK annual emissions). But that people weren’t switching fast enough and the industry was facing a consumer adoption problem. Typically being put off by higher upfront costs, unfamiliarity with charging options, concerns around asset value and the fear of being inconvenienced by introducing an EV into their day-to-day life.
Luke confronted me with this problem and elmo is what we dreamt up to reduce the consumer adoption barriers and make switching to an EV easy by making personal mobility smart, seamless and sustainable. For everybody.
What does your business offer its target audience?
First up, we don’t think our customers should pay a premium for flexibility so elmo combines the affordability of a traditional lease with the flexibility of a subscription. Plus everything needed to run the car (insurance, maintenance, road tax, breakdown cover etc) is included in one monthly payment with no deposit required.
Secondly, we give our customers total flexibility so they can keep the car for as long as they want. They just give us 30 days’ notice and we’ll come and collect it or swap it with another one. Compare this with a traditional lease where you’re stuck with the same motor for 24-48 months. A lot can change in that time!
What’s the most common problem your customers approach you with?
A typical issue for people is that they want to make a greener driving choice by switching to an EV, but are put off by the expense of buying one and by concerns over whether it will fit their lifestyle. Or, as many of us now do, they want the ability to be more flexible so they might want a car for a few months at a time and not year-round. Our subscription model is designed to help people get past these concerns.
How do you set yourself apart from other businesses in your industry?
We’re totally redefining the buying and owning experience for car drivers. The problems and inconvenience of buying at dealerships or locking into rigid lease contracts disappear when the experience is tailored to the convenience requirements of modern customers and digitised. And when you marry that with a genuinely human customer service experience, you give people something really special.
We’ve also made sustainability a key focus. We deal exclusively in 100% electric cars which produce zero tailpipe emissions. But we also include, as standard, a carbon offset donation in the monthly price. This is to account for emissions produced during the manufacturing process. This means that we’re empowering our customers to drive Net Zero and solving supply chain cleanliness issues for them.
With all the success stories around entrepreneurship and how innovative people have to be to take the leap. How do you think you’ve innovated your sector and why?
Traditional leasing is a 384bn Euro market in Europe and has performed well above the past few decades. But modern consumers (in a world where nobody buys films or music anymore) expect more from a car lease than hefty deposits and inflexible contract terms, especially when it comes to electric cars. We have re-imagined the traditional lease to meet the needs of modern consumers by offering flexibility without the premium wrapped up in a seamless and convenient digital user experience; and in so doing, we are using that as a mechanism to accelerate consumer adoption of EVs and help turn the needle for decarbonising transport.
What plans do you have for elmo over the next two years?
Our company's purpose is to make getting an electric car easy for everyone so that we empower people to reduce their carbon emissions caused by their transport choices. To have a meaningful impact on carbon emission reduction in a meaningful timeframe, we are aiming to help tens of thousands of drivers switch in the coming years by expanding our fleet to cater to a broad variety of budgets and needs.
Why do you think your business has had such a positive impact across your industry?
Consumers, now more than ever, want to make sustainability-driven purchase decisions, but, in most cases, not at the cost of extra expense or added inconvenience. We’re making it super easy to switch to an EV with no strings attached - if people don’t like the car, on elmo they are not committed for any long contract term, they haven’t had to pay a big deposit and the monthly cost is competitive with a long term lease. In other words, we’re empowering people to make the switch by removing the main consumer adoption barriers. It’s a big problem in a big market so the potential for being impactful is huge.
What are your top tips for entrepreneurs wanting to get their business out there?
#1 Try to build something people actually love. You’ll then find that your customers are your most credible advocates.
#2 Timing is important. elmo intersects sustainability, new mobility, electrification and energy - all of which are hot topics. As a result, people are interested in talking to us and that’s made the journey easier.
How do you believe the evolution of tech will impact your industry over the next 10 years?
There’s so much going on, but expect to see a paradigm shift away from ownership towards mobility as a service as technology-led business models help align mobility offerings more closely with the needs of modern consumers. We’ll see the advent of autonomous vehicles, particularly within ride-hailing and other commercial operations. And, of course, we’ll see a full-scale electrification of consumer transport and a move away from fossil fuels (with hydrogen being used in some cases for commercial transport).
Hiring the right team is vital in any business. What are your top three tips for hiring and developing engineering talent?
One: Look for experts in their field. Specialists who can become generalists as they grow with the business
Two: Proactivity is greater than experience. Tech is constantly evolving. Hire people who are genuinely enthusiastic about the future of the industry and willing to learn on the job.
Three: Be clear on your team culture and values. It really helps people understand if they’ll be a good fit long term.
Why do you think now is the right time for the world to begin exploring and adopting technology that aids sustainability?
The right time was probably 30 or 40 years ago, but it’s only now that we are all increasingly becoming aware of the effects of climate change as a result of human activity that people are conscious of their desire to make a difference. As a result, they expect the businesses they use to empower them to make that difference. This in turn incentivises businesses to embed sustainability in their business models and make ‘impact’ part of their purpose.
Electric cars, smartly charged with renewably-produced electrons are one technology that can help make a difference. And at elmo, we’re doing our best to make that choice accessible to more people.
