Pioneering Plug-and-Play Solar Power Solutions with Luke Phelps

Founder and CEO Luke Phelps launched Vroom Solar, Inc. when he saw a need for power in remote and mobile situations in rural Missouri.

His Red Barn Solar crews needed power on commercial agriculture installs, which inspired Luke to create a portable solar solution for on-site power. He wanted to “simplify solar,” make independent power available to anyone, and offer an alternative to gas generators with no maintenance. Vroom Solar, Inc. was born, with a secret sauce of solar-direct, Smart Solar Management technology that’s patent-pending. 

Smart Solar Management is a fully integrated, fully automated power management system that delivers AC output power to the end-user’s microgrid in the most efficient and accurate way possible, while also managing the end-user’s Input Power Source and Load Management Priority choices. No battery or grid connection is needed to produce power, but optional for power storage of course. Set up is simple with our plug-and-play connections – no permitting, no hardwiring, programming, or solar experience necessary. 

Luke knew from his solar experience that the added cost of batteries and net metering laws were a weak link and the most expensive part of solar. Teaming up with CTO James Bartley and eventually Core Source Technologies, Luke’s team is developing Smart Solar Management technology to make skipping batteries automatic and seamless.

Luke also partnered with Jonathan Young, owner and operator of Advanced Racking, to develop a patent-pending racking system that easily adapts to cargo trailers, box trucks, and/or shipping containers. Inspired by the free space on cargo trailer roofs, Luke designed a solar mount system that could adapt and install quickly on top of structures customers already own without putting holes in the roof. As Vroom Solar continues to connect with potential customers and distributors, the possibilities for the simplified Vroom Solar solution keep expanding from tiny homes and sheds, to agricultural applications, to developing countries, with plans to integrate into residential solar. 

Though Luke originally designed Vroom Solar for crews on job sites, the Vroom Solar system is for anyone wanting emergency, backup power as well. With no fuel costs or maintenance, Vroom Solar’s DIY solution is a great alternative for fossil fuel generators.

One of Luke’s biggest challenges has been educating people on the Vroom Solar difference. He believes Vroom’s Smart Solar Management technology is innovative for the solar industry. Traditionally-minded solar enthusiasts often question the ability to harvest solar energy without a battery, while those new to solar don’t necessarily understand the significance. Nevertheless, Vroom Solar simplifies solar for everyday customers, and gives them the freedom to plug into the sun… anywhere.

I started on the Vroom Solar Journey several years ago. November 6th, 2018, I met [Vroom CTO] James Bartley at a week long battery training in Seattle Washington. James and I both were trying to educate ourselves on battery systems to implement into our solar installation businesses. We soon found out that we were both from Missouri and have worked together ever since. Smart Solar Management would not be what it is today without the help of James. Grateful our paths crossed all those years ago!

I’ve been friends with Katherine for over 20 years.  Actually, I have Katherine to thank for meeting my wife too but that’s another story.  Katherine has been driving the branding and storytelling of Vroom Solar.  She taught graphic design at several universities and has a very creative spirit.  In the beginning of this journey, Katherine would spend hours with me at coffee shops helping fill out grant paperwork and striving to capture a clear story even with me being slightly scatterbrained lol.  She is excited to see where Vroom Solar goes as this technology continues to turn heads.  Katherine makes this shabby team look good!

Cary is our rock.  He is level headed and hard working.  He is always going over details to make sure that we did not miss anything.  Cary spent 30 years at the same company moving up through the ranks to a level of managing million dollar accounts and teams of people.  And the best part is he cares about everyone in the company.  We are proud to have him as our COO and could not ask for a better person to keep the company moving forward. (Luke met Cary while in college through church).

I met Clift Briscoe in October of 2023 and instantly hit it off.  Clift owns and operates a battery company, worked with the DOD for a number of years and been part of several successful IT companies.  Clift instantly understood what we were developing and loved it.  In no time we added Clift to Our Advisory Board, and we were off and running.  Clift has added tremendous value to our team and has taken our product to the next level by developing our partnership with Core Source Technology and helping write our software.  And with Clift’s help we have developed a brand-new patent pending solar measuring system, called the Vroom Forecaster (more to come on this later 😉).

“Robin is the ideal sales lead for our team.  He believes relationships are the most valuable.  He is not a pushy sales person but seeks to truly understand what the customers needs are and what we are providing.  Robin always has a great attitude and willing to jump on any job to get us to launch.  Robin’s background in IBM, VP of business development at Sprint and IGT has given him the tools to understand our technology and lead the development of dealers. He has done a tremendous job in building our vast network with limited resources and no real product to sell a customer yet, lol.  He just keeps diving into the engineering and concepts and passing those to the customer.  We have more eager dealers than I ever imagined at this stage.  I promise you, Robin, we will be able to deliver the Vroom 3000 soon!  Then the flood gates really open.”

“Missy has been a treasure for team Vroom Solar.  She has become the mortar between a lot of the building bricks of our company.  She never complains about any task and just pushes forward to figure out new government documents, tax codes, financial models, and anything else that needs solved for administration.  She brings a ton of good insight and experience to the table from insurance, lending, and education backgrounds.  We are blessed to have her doing so much in the background.”

We’re thrilled to welcome Kristin and Nathan Carter to our Board as Financial Advisors! With vast experience in financial strategy and growth, they bring a wealth of knowledge to our team. Kristin is is currently the Head of Tax Advisory at Compound and Chairman of the Board at a utility company. Nathan is CFO at a national firework distribution company. They both are very active in our community and serve in different capacities. Their expertise will be instrumental as we continue our journey towards scaling new heights. Join us in giving a warm welcome to Kristin and Nathan! (Luke is neighbors with Kristin and Nathan).

Current hybrid and off-grid solar systems must be paired with inverter/battery combos or the grid to operate.   If that battery fails, the entire system is dead in the water.  Such systems also typically have multiple components such as the inverter, plus a battery, an MPPT Charge Controller, a solar combiner, external fuse box, etc.  This translates into multiple potential failure points, and the potential need for an electrician to install (average of 12 hours for this type of system, at $80-$100/hour).

With the Vroom Solar 3000™ Control Center and its Smart Solar Management (SSM) intelligence, neither a battery nor a grid attachment is required, but can be added as an optional backup power source.  Vroom Solar’s VS3000™ is a stand-alone, instantly-usable power source that is simple to set-up, simple to use, and more affordable (up to 45% less) with a smaller footprint than competitive systems.  Literally plug and play for instant, solar-direct power… anywhere.  Even on the go, safely, in cargo trailers.  The Vroom Solar 3000™ is the only solar-direct, mobile/remote power station that won’t be shut down completely by a battery that fails.

Here is a competitive analysis of other remote power options today.

We partnered with Inspiralia when Carson Yoder contacted Luke. We had been looking for some grant writing support because we had applied to a couple and hadn’t gotten a response. Inspiralia pointed out that the SBIR AFWERX grant through the Air Force is open-topic, which eliminated the need to be an exact fit for a particular project a department was undertaking. Each government department has a little different process for their grants. The AFWERX grant has two phases, the first of which is securing a customer memorandum, the second is adapting the product development to meet their needs. We’re midway through Phase I and actively looking for a customer match.

General military awareness and specific military supply-chain officer introductions.  With guidance from our partner, Inspiralia, we are sending weekly emails to specific contacts they work with; potential customers such as AFLCMC, AFCEC, and AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, and potential DAF users like USAFEC and the 621th Contingency Response Group. 

We are also partnered with The Capital Factory who is hosting the FED Supernova Conference in Austin, TX, August 20-22, 2024.  We will have a meet-and-greet table with marketing materials and a sample VS3000™ Control Center for their sponsored “table super-crawl” networking events.  We also have several military-focused dealers in our pipeline; we’ll leverage any sales, endorsements and AFWERX advancement milestones as they become available into learnings for these dealers as appropriate.

Vroom Solar is a B2B sales company, with a laser-focus on the Contractor, Farming, Military and Underserved markets for sales of the Vroom Solar 3000™ Control Center.  We’ve also built a full-function retail website store, which will launched in JULY 2024 with (4) racking products: the adjustable Vroom Rack™ for Cargo Trailers, the adjustable Vroom Rack™ for RVs, RV-related 115-watt and 220-watt Renogy Solar panels and cables, and Powerfield PowerRack® ground-mount tubs.  We’ll support this launch with a content-rich website, automated (HubSpot) email campaigns, Google and Facebook ads, blog campaigns, YouTube and LinkedIn video content, and RV-related magazine ads.

We plan to sell our VS3000™ Control Center exclusively through companies such as solar distributors, strategically recruited solar installation dealers, trailer manufacturers/dealers, shed manufacturers/dealers, carport manufacturers, custom shipping container distributors and OEMs, and online and brick-and-mortar retailers.  We made a conscious decision not to sell full kits; this sales model maximizes margins for our dealers, and insulates us from solar panel breakage.  We built a Cornerstone Dealer Program that rewards early dealer sign-ups with additional benefits and provides them options for acquiring a test unit, all of which resonate with prospective dealers.

To build our Authorized Dealer pipeline, we invested in numerous 2023 tradeshows, including attendance at the Natural Disasters Expo Miami, the EV Charging Summit & Expo in Las Vegas, RE+ Texas in Austin, RE+ Las Vegas, RE+ Florida, RE+ Midwest, SESA in Puerto Rico, The National Association of Trailer Manufacturers trade show, and the Equipment Exposition in Louisville, KY.  The result is hundreds of target market distributor prospects/relationships and a robust pipeline of (54) Authorized Dealer Program Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs), all at a remarkably low cost of acquisition.

Over the next 60 days,, we’ll leverage our Cornerstone Dealer Program to create a critical mass of Authorized Dealers and test-unit commitments in advance of our first VS3000™ production run in Q1 2025.  We’ve also created and launched a strong set of Authorized Dealer sales enablement tools behind an Authorized Dealer firewall on our website to provide initial support.  That will be supplemented by the addition of 2-3 Dealer Development Managers in 2025.

A successful launch and production of the VS3000™ beginning in Q1 2025, next-Gen VS5000 in design w/a target launch date, and the following SMART Goals:

1.     Sign up (3-5) online retailers by OCTOBER 1st, 2024
2.     Sign up (50) U.S. Authorized Dealers by OCTOBER 1st, 2024
3.     Sign up (2-3) Authorized Dealers in Puerto Rico by OCTOBER 1st, 2024
4.     Launch Vroom Rack™ retail (website Store) and wholesale sales in MAY 2024
5.     Sell & Ship Vroom Rack™ for RVs and Cargo Trailers in 2024
6.     (25) Cargo Trailer racks and/or RV racks in JULY 2024
7.   (30) Vroom Racks™/month for the rest of 2024 | 205 TOTAL for 2024
8.     Book (300) Vroom Solar 3000™ Control Center dealer purchase orders by DECEMBER 1st, 2024
9.     Ship (300) Vroom Solar 3000™ Control Centers in Q1 2025
10.     $250K + in Total 2024 Gross Sales (including Vroom Rack™ sales) at a min. 50% Gross Margin
11.     Sell & Ship an add’l (5,000) Vroom Solar 3000™ Control Centers by YE 2025
12. Achieve Average Gross Annual Dealer Revenue = $78,000
13. Develop a full-Kit Packing, Stocking and Shipping partner by OCTOBER 8th, 2024