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11 years later, Arcimoto opens order books for EV trike

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After more than a decade of fits and starts,

Arcimoto, the dogged Oregon startup

behind the so-called Fun Utility Vehicle, has at long last begun taking retail orders for its open, three-wheeled

electric vehicle

. But there’s a catch, the

Portland Business Journal

reports: The Evergreen Edition model will list for $19,900.

That’s a hefty step up from the company’s target of around $12,000 for its

EV

trike, but it’s reportedly in line with the company’s expectations for initial pricing. Once it starts production, the company plans to turns its focus to increasing scale and whittling out costs, similar to what

Tesla

has experienced with the

Model 3

. You can order an

Arcimoto

with a $5,000 down payment.

It’s been a while since we really caught up with the Eugene, Ore.-based startup, which was set to open a rental and customer experience center in October. After eight iterations to nail down the vehicle design, and running out of money multiple times, the company went public in 2017 and fetched more than $18 million. It partly used that money to buy and

tool a factory in Eugene

to help it achieve founder and CEO Mark Frohnmayer’s dream of building a low-cost, environmentally sustainable urban vehicle.

“We’ve been to the brink and beyond multiple times, but then we would look out at the world and say ‘Well, has anyone else really cracked this problem yet? I guess not, so let’s try again,'” Frohnmayer, a former video game designer and entrepreneur,

told Bloomberg

for a recent video feature.

Measuring 113 inches in length and 61 inches wide, the two-seat Evergreen Edition boasts a 100-mile range, a top speed of 75 mph and a 0-60 mph time of 7.5 seconds. It comes with dual electric motors, heated seats and handlebar grips, Bluetooth speakers, removable half-doors, a lockable rear storage bin and a magnetic cup holder, among other features. There’s also a three-year, 36,000-mile

warranty

, including the battery.

For now, reservations are open only for customers in Oregon, California and Washington, with the goal to eventually deliver them nationwide (we presume that will hinge on the company’s promise to eventually introduce full door enclosures for cold climates). The vehicle doesn’t qualify for federal EV tax credits — the company says it’s working on that — but it does meet the criteria for tax credits in states like Oregon and California.

Arcimoto is planning a first run of 100 units of its flagship EV by the end of June.

Related Video:

from Autoblog http://bit.ly/2DI1cC0