Breaking the four wheel grip on mainstream transportation has been a challenge since we invented the wheel. Sure, the Roman chariots were fast, but haven’t you seen Ben Hur? Wouldn’t you rather have a nice stable cart? By the time we get to cars, quads are clearly in the lead, despite the fact that the smaller footprints of motorcycles would solve many of the traffic and resource issues plaguing our overcrowded cities.
Enter the tricycle. I recently spent a month in an electric tricycle made by Oregon-based Arcimoto. If you’ve read about my experience driving the Arcimoto FUV, you may have more questions about how it came to be and what Arcimoto’s goals are. I spoke with Arcimoto interim CEO Jesse Fittipaldi about designing and driving a vehicle that’s neither a car nor a bike, but a little bit of both.
C/D: What is your background? Have you started Arcimoto? What is the history of the company?
JF: Mark Frohnmayer founded Arcimoto in 2007, and between 2007 and 2015 he prototyped many different vehicles, testing what an inverted trike should be and what the problems are. He came up with what we call the Generation 8 Platform, that’s what you drove. I joined the company at the beginning of 2015, which is when we got funding to develop that Generation 8 prototype into a product. So I built the company here from a prototype company to production OEM company producing electric vehicles.
What attracted you to Arcimoto?
I met with Mark, and we talked about what the future of autonomy does for transportation, and how the architecture of vehicles must change, or can change under that new paradigm, becoming efficient, with a small footprint, and really built for ‘ a goal rather than, “How cool do I look?” Being part of a company working on something meaningful was desirable. Hopefully we can show the world how you can create a really cool company that does something meaningful.
You said earlier that there were some challenges that were kind of inherent in making an inverted trike that kind of had to be met before you felt like it was ready to go bigger. Can you just give me a brief overview of what some of those challenges were?
We really thought a two-passenger vehicle was critical to mass adoption. And he forms factors of the vehicles we prototyped before were very car, traditional car in their style. Kind of like Elio or Solo. Pedals on the floor and steering wheel, and your legs spread forward. This created this very long vehicle. This created a vehicle that had a back seat that was difficult for people to get in and out of. And once you were in the back seat, it was not comfortable, the experience was not preferable. Solving this was essentially changing from a steering wheel to a handlebar, and changing the ergonomic position of the passenger and the driver to sit more upright, as if you were sitting in a camping chair. And that allowed the vehicle to be shorter, less material, less cost, and a passenger seat that was actually comfortable, and some would say fun. Riding in the back seat of the FUV in Manhattan is an amazing experience.
Yes, I took a few passengers during the time I had it. All my neighbors wanted to go. Let’s talk a little about what the FUV looks like. I liked it, but it’s kind of dorky cool.
Yes. Wait, don’t write down that I said “yes”, like I agreed. I just meant I understand what you are saying. [He laughs and mutters, “Dorky cool.”]
It’s a strange form factor, it’s not something people are used to seeing. And I think that’s part of its appeal. I’m sure you’ve experienced this while driving it; people do have a positive reaction to the vehicle.
I will say, as far as my experience with it goes, it’s been about 100 percent people who have given me the thumbs up, even people in much cooler vehicles. I mean, whether they would buy it themselves or not, I don’t know, but I got a positive reaction from it while I was in it, which I didn’t expect.
That’s wonderful.
Let’s talk a little about safety. One of my concerns initially upon downloading was like, “Am I going to die testing this thing?” It doesn’t look as stable as it is, and it doesn’t look or feel very protective while you’re in it. Of course I survived and I enjoyed it. But what do you say to people who are worried about the safety?
The vehicle is a motorcycle, and that category has known safety issues. We tried to address as much as possible in the design. Motorcycles easily lose traction in high-speed braking, and you end up throwing the vehicle out. We mitigated this by going with three wheels, and you have a superior braking experience. It is controlled, if you have to stop, and you will not be ejected or fall. The perspective of the driver relative to other drivers is better than a bike, if you can sit higher you will notice that if you ever look across at cars parked near you at an intersection, you are head level with mid-sized SUVs . It gives you a better perspective of the road and also gives other people a better perspective of you. The visual experience of the vehicle is bigger than motorcycle, so people can see you better. Then we have the seat belts for ejection; ejection is an important thing you try to avoid that is inherent in a two-wheeled motorcycle. So just try to reduce those types of experiences, or improve those experiences, which hopefully gives us a good, safer vehicle.
You do offer optional doors, I saw that in the build sheets.
Yes, we now have half doors, and we are working on full enclosure. Doors are difficult from an engineering and manufacturing standpoint. There is a joke in the automotive industry that cars start with the design of the door. And we haven’t started with the design of the door. So we have an oddly shaped loft where its geometry makes it challenging to get the double doors working. There will likely be a revision to the cage design to allow for full enclosure, but that just takes time and certification. We’re not on a massive scale yet, so we feel like we can support our production numbers by delivering vehicles in areas where Jeep culture—open cab—is a thing. So like, hey, in Hawaii I’m okay tearing around in a vehicle with no doors on.
From a business standpoint, what is the percentage of personal sales compared to larger rental or tourist fleet sales?
I’ll have to look up the exact number, but I bet you 80 percent of our production goes to consumers.
I see a challenge for you is in the price [nearly $18,000 to start]. That’s a lot of money for just a little more utility than a motorcycle. What are the thoughts on that? And are there plans to work on bringing the price down or do you feel the benefits of the vehicle will support that price in a larger customer base?
I think that in the short term we will have a consumer base for the price. People spend a lot of money on Harley-Davidson motorcycles. We are priced squarely in that category. But for mass adoption, the price must come down for sure. But if you look at it from a financing point of view, people are paying 275 dollars a month. It doesn’t seem like such a challenge to people.
Do you drive one of these?
I do have a FUV, and its name is Milky, and it is all white. I’ve been driving Milky for over a year and I haven’t driven my other vehicle – it’s a BMW – so long that its battery is dead, and I have to figure out how to get it out of the parking garage.
