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Electrameccanica News
The Mesa, AZ produced Electra Mechanica Solo is no more, due in part to “barriers to customer acceptance of three-wheeled vehicles made it ‘impossible to profitably manufacture and sell’ the cars.” They will continue to move forward on a 4-wheel model.
Mesa’s ElectraMeccanica halts production of three-wheeled electric vehicles (abc15.com)
Sorry Aptera, you’re next!
In other news, Aptera just hired Paul Elio as their new CFO. They needed an established con-artist, er I mean, leader to bring yet another phantom 3-wheeler company to NASDAQ. Like Elio before them, Aptera hopes to partner with Overstock.com/ElioCoin to further legitimize their lackluster and everchanging, non-existent production efforts.
Much of everything in the previous paragraph was meant to be satirical, that is about Elio, not Aptera. I’ve asked for my deposit back. Aptera is toast!
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9 Replies
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Electrameccanica News
updated 7 months, 2 weeks ago
8 Members
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9
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I don’t think it has much (if anything) to do with having three wheels.
Range: 100 miles
Top Speed: 80 mph
Seating: 1
Cargo Space: 4.09 cubic feet
For the price they were asking, those specs aren’t spectacular.
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Looks like the Solo is following in the foosteps of the Sion and Lighyear 0/1 and perhaps the Arcrimoto. Vehicles startups are difficult in good times which these times are not.
A lesson here(Even for Aptera), it is not over when production is achieved, especially for a three wheel EV with no government tax incentive. Of course the Sion and Light year were four wheel vehicles so I am not sure how valid/applicable the three wheel anti-bias really is. The Solo was a one passenger EV as well as having only three wheels.
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Jon_Arryn, Those below you in the Line” will celebrate your departure as they can move closer to getting the most efficient transportation in the world. You belong to a subset of people that have a hard time seeing facts vs. fantasy. I guess only time will tell who is right. To bad you gave up your chance to stay in just in case we are right. The old saying “He who laughs last, last loudest”. If you are ever in FL drop by and I will give you a ride in mine.
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Electra Meccanica Solo was an interesting critter, as was the Arcimoto FUV. Both had significant flaws that limited their market. I think that the 3 wheel aspect was one of the smaller flaws. Both are limited range. FUV, being open is not a year-round vehicle for most anyone but motorcyclists. Solo is pretty nice, but being a single-seater with only a tiny cargo volume limits it to being little more than a work commuter or a pizza delivery vehicle. I am surprised that it didn’t get more penetration into the food delivery market.
About the only thing that Aptera shares with these two is its tadpole trike configuration and electric power. While Aptera may not make it long-term, I give it a far better chance of succeeding than than those other trikes.
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This reply was modified 8 months, 1 week ago by J.P. Morere.
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Most of the vehicles in the food delivery market are owned by the delivery drivers, not the restaurants. For the price and range, your average delivery person couldn’t afford to use the Solo.
Given the state of the economy, I too, am a little worried about Aptera. Start-ups in a good economy are hard enough. But I think the asking price, right to repair, and features (like openpilot) will help it succeed. I have faith that one day soon (my dashboard says 2024🤞), I will have my butt in the driver seat.
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This reply was modified 8 months, 1 week ago by
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It can also be said that there were too many 3 wheelers in the market place. Although not truly a direct competitor, it was something that people will infer to as another 3 wheeler. Limited storage space, along with limited passenger space and safety showed that these vehicles were not something that would serve them well.
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They have a valid point about three wheelers, at least when it comes to legislation. Three wheelers are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to tax credits and incentives, not only is there the Federal $7500 credit there are also state rebates which are generally in the $2500 range, in Massachusetts it’s $3500 and in New Jersey there is no sales tax on EVs and a $5000 rebate. That’s huge for a low cost vehicle like the Aptera. There are also regulatory problems, in MA, Texas and Alaska there are no autocycle laws so the Aptera is a motorcycle requiring a motorcycle license and possibly a helmet, that’s the thing that going to prevent me from buying one.
Engineering is easier than legislating. Engineers job is to get things done as quickly as possible, legislators and bureaucrats see their jobs as not getting things done or even when they want to get things done their systems are designed to do things as slowly as possible.
I don’t see any way that Aptera could move to four wheels now for the first vehicle but they ought to be planning on adding a fourth wheel as soon as they can in the future. I’d be delighted if I could buy an 8 mile per KWh 4 wheel Aptera vs the 10 mile per KWh 3 wheeler which I can’t purchase in my state.
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The investor webinar two months ago showed a production ramp graph which mentioned the start of design for a future model 2nd qt 2023.
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ElectraMeccanica is doing a buyback on the SOLO