Arcimoto begins customer deliveries of its fun little electric trike

We’ve been fortunate enough to test some fun vehicles over the past few years, but few have put as big a smile on my face as the Arcimoto fun utility vehicle, or FUV. This little electric vehicle looks like nothing else on the road: a tricycle layout, steered by handlebars, with tandem seating for two occupants who are partially protected from the elements by a windshield and roof. In 2017, the company raised almost $20 million in its IPO—more than double the amount it was initially seeking—and today it announced that deliveries are beginning for customers in California, Oregon, and Washington.

The Arcimoto is powered by a pair of electric motors outputting 60kW (81hp) that drive the front wheels, with a top speed of 75mph (120km/h) and a 0-60mph time of 7.5 seconds. The motors are fed by a lithium-ion battery that provides an EPA-rated city range of 102.5 miles (165km). And because that battery is low down in the tube frame chassis, the Arcimoto is remarkably stable for a trike.

As is often the case with the launch of a new vehicle, the first production models are fully loaded. In this case, that means the $19,900 Evergreen Edition, which comes with heated seats and handlebar grips, removable doors, a lockable storage compartment at the rear, and Bluetooth speakers.

Arcimoto says it still plans on making the $11,900 base model, although only once costs fall and operations scale up at its factory in Eugene, Oregon. Other variants in the works include a delivery FUV (the Deliverator), as well as one optimized for emergency services (the Rapid Responder). Similarly, customers in states outside the three listed above will eventually be able to order their own FUVs, but first it’s going to start working through more than 4,000 preorders, which it hopes to have done by June 2020.

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1571097