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Blanquefort (Gironde – New Aquitaine) — She really has it all! Light as a feather, therefore consuming half as much, comfortable (five seats, large trunk, air conditioning), inexpensive, only ten parts (instead of 300) from recycling for assembly in less than an hour, low price of 20,000 euros, no state aid is here the Gazelle, designed by Gazelle Tech.
It is the electric car (180 km range with four hours of charging time) that can revolutionize our daily journeys. A successful bet for Gaël Lavaud, founder of Gazelle Tech, who has been fighting since his studies (the mechanical engineering doctorate wrote his thesis on lightweight chassis construction!) to offer a radically different approach to the automotive industry.
Goal: sustainable mobility
With one goal: sustainable mobility. “Making the challenges of daily mobility compatible with ecological change” is the firm idea of this Solarquadra, who has been enthusiastic about mechanics since childhood and has been interested in ecology from a young age. A solid idea that he promotes both at Renaud, where he worked in the research department for ten years, and at Goupil, the market leader for electric commercial vehicles. Before it becomes a reality within the company Gazelle Tech, founded in 2014.
This iconoclastic car respects the planet and is also a response to social problems. Assembled in a micro-factory that can be set up in any rural area where jobs are needed, for example, the production of the Gazelle brings the inhuman work on the assembly line back to the world of yesterday: every employee can move up from A to Z of the car, because For him, “people must always be at the center of the company”.
A thousand jobs are at stake by 2030
In the approval and investor search phase – “50% of a creator’s job!” comments Gaël. However, although we are well supported by public and regional authorities, we lack private funding” – production of the Gazelle for private individuals, especially for municipal and commercial fleets, is planned for 2025. By 2030, around a hundred micro-factories in the regions and a thousand jobs will be at stake. What is important to him? “The meaning of what we do. »
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