Customer Stories
ElectraMeccanica: Scaling up for rapid growth and efficiency on advanced ERP in the cloud
Explore ElectraMeccanica’s journey with SAP
Electric vehicles maker ElectraMeccanica Vehicles Corp. sought an advanced digital technology backbone with comprehensive functionality for procurement, production, sales, finance, and project management. Finding the best fit for its needs and asset-light ethos, ElectraMeccanica made the decision to invest in RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition.
of vehicles managed throughout their lifecycle
of purchases and payments moved from informal systems.
faster quarter-end close.
One of our major business objectives is to remain asset light. Leveraging SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition supports this goal and means we’ve offloaded maintenance work, allowing our team to bring more value to the business.
Jim Gwynn
Director of Information Services, ElectraMeccanica Vehicles Corp.
Building future-ready global technology infrastructure that’s asset light
Founded in 2015 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, electric vehicles (EV) startup ElectraMeccanica has quickly grown into an international company with operations in the United States and China as well as its native Canada.
Making cars that are light on the planet, ElectraMeccanica is committed to creating an optimal operational environment that is also environmentally sound. In seeking an advanced digital technology backbone to support its strong growth, the EV maker also wanted to remain asset light and had adopted a cloud-first ethos.
“Being a startup, we had a greenfield environment,” says Jim Gwynn, director of information services at ElectraMeccanica. “We needed the right technology to support robust and connected processes, from product design and development, sales, procurement, and assembly all the way through to aftermarket care.”
Gwynn adds: “We wanted to avoid technology infrastructure procurement and maintenance costs, allowing us to free the internal IT team to provide more business value rather than having to focus on repair, maintenance, and service of the technology infrastructure.”
Taking advantage of RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition allowed us to create our business environment quickly while also giving me the time to build my team and focus on strategic needs.
Jim Gwynn
Director of Information Services, ElectraMeccanica Vehicles Corp.
Leveraging the cloud for speed and scalability
ElectraMeccanica needed a scalable and future-ready digital foundation on which to deliver environmentally efficient electric vehicles globally.
With a goal to establish best practices in operational processes across the entire business to support its growth and go-to-market strategy, ElectraMeccanica made the decision to use RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition.
The private edition of SAP S/4HANA Cloud offers AI, machine learning, robotic process automation, and integrated finance, supply chain, manufacturing, and sales and distribution processes.
“By using RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, we embraced a subscription model,” explains Gwynn. “This allowed us to create our digital business environment quickly using as much standard functionality as possible, which liberated my team to work on other business priorities.”
The implementation took just eight months using automotive industry capabilities and best practices.
Architecting advanced tech infrastructure without massive capital spend
With its business foundation running on SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, ElectraMeccanica has integrated the company’s finance, supply chain, manufacturing, and sales and distribution processes, eliminating 100% of legacy manual processes.
Architecting the solution in the cloud proved highly reliable, with the company achieving zero downtime since going live. ElectraMeccanica has also steered clear of infrastructure costs as a capital expense.
“We’ve successfully avoided significant capital expenditures through leveraging the cloud and transformation as a service,” comments Gwynn. “As a startup, not having to build data centers, racks, and air-conditioning infrastructure means we were able to turn on the systems within a matter of weeks. And from an application-delivery standpoint, we were able to activate our new financial systems and turn off legacy processes very quickly. It took us eight months from the time we signed the contract to go-live.”
We completed our migration to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition within eight months. We could not have done that without RISE with SAP.
Jim Gwynn
Director of Information Services, ElectraMeccanica Vehicles Corp.
Supporting continued operational excellence as production ramps up
As deliveries of ElectraMeccanica’s flagship single-seat SOLO electric vehicle gather pace, running on SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition allows the company to scale its operations to meet strong demand. The software provides the headroom for growth and will underpin production operations in the United States.
“Previously, pretty much everything was being done manually,” says Gwynn. “So having technology that streamlines business processes is invaluable. Taking advantage of embedded tools and standardized functionality as well as the cloud enables us to grow the business quickly, scale the business, and achieve our objectives. And by avoiding the pressure to customize, we’re leveraging standardized functionality and best practices, and we’re training the business to use the tool most efficiently.”