After more than a decade of working on its "Fun Utility Vehicle," or FUV, Arcimoto is finally shipping the three-wheeled EVs to customers. The company announced this past week that it's entered production mode, which means you could see the FUV cruising around California, Oregon and Washington in the near future.
The FUV was designed to lower CO2 emissions but also to take up less space than the typical EV. The result is something between a car and a motorcycle. It reaches a top speed of 75 mph, has a city driving range of 102.5 miles per charge, supports level two charging and costs $19,900, before tax credits and EV rebates. It comes with heated seats and grips, Bluetooth speakers, removable doors and lockable rear storage.
"This milestone is the culmination of 12 years of effort by an incredibly talented team to bring to market a truly affordable, incredibly fun, hyper-efficient, small footprint EV for everyday driving," said Mark Frohnmayer, Aricmoto's founder and president. To start, Arcimoto is selling to customers on the West Coast. But the company hopes to expand into other states, and it plans to fill all of its preorders (more than 3,000) by the end of next June.
The FUV is Arcimoto's first EV, but there are already two more in the pipeline: the Deliverator, meant for local and last-mile deliveries, and the Rapid Responder, designed for emergency medical services and campus security. If you're interested but want to test drive the FUV before you throw down nearly $20,000, you may be happy to know that Arcimoto has a rental (and customer experience) center in Oregon.
