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EUGENE, Ore.—It's 2pm on a Saturday afternoon, and Eugene, Oregon is about to witness the (re)launch of its most serious entry in the electric mobility industry to date. Outside of Arcimoto's new factory, located in the sliver of industrial space between the railroad tracks and the increasingly-hip Whiteaker neighborhood, parked cars are starting to line up. Heavily represented are Eugene's automotive stalwarts: Volkswagen diesel wagons, Toyota hybrids, Subaru Outbacks, and a smattering of newer electric cars and quirky vehicles like the Isuzu Vehicross.

The crowd assembled to witness the delivery of Arcimoto's first "Signature" line of three-wheeled "Fun Utility Vehicles" is as classically Eugene as the vehicles they drove here. Aging hippies brush shoulders with middle-aged public radio-supporters, and there's also a mix of more mainstream families and a few younger alternative types—including one performatively circling the parking lot on a OneWheel. Any hope of assessing the prospects of Arcimoto's quirky three-wheeled electric runabout based on the crowd in attendance faded as I realized that this same group could just as easily be on hand to check out the opening of a new microbrewery or outdoor wear store.

This left me back at the problem I was presented with when I accepted an Ars assignment to cover my hometown's "automaker"—how do you judge a three-wheeled electric vehicle that straddles the recreational and practical markets, and is built by a company that has gone through seven previous iterations over its decade-long history? This problem is only amplified by the fact that even the version of the FUV I was recently given access to represents an early "Signature" build. Significant design iterations remain ahead. And even if there were a solid point of reference in the market for the Arcimoto FUV today, it would still be a moving target.

For all its apparent uniqueness, Arcimoto's concept isn't a fundamentally blue-sky idea. Three-wheeled motorcycles posing as car replacements have been around for decades, and these vehicles have been edged toward the mainstream by companies like Elio Motors. Eugene in particular has been ahead of the quirky three-wheeler adoption curve for years, embracing both imports like the Zap Xebra and home-grown entrants like the NEVco Gizmo. Each has appeared on local roads since the turn of the millennium. So today, the burning question facing Arcimoto is unique. Can this vehicle transcend its local niche in a famously progressive college/hippie town (where three-wheelers have been featured in Eugene Celebration parades for nearly two decades now) and actually sell to a broader market?

The pressure is certainly on Arcimoto. Last year, the company raised nearly $20 million in an initial public offering, about double what it had initially sought. In going through that process, the company became only the second pure electric automaker to list on the NASDAQ after Tesla. With this surprisingly successful capital raise, Arcimoto will now attempt to make the leap from a struggling, little-known local startup in debt to the City of Eugene's Business Development Fund to a nationally-known player in what has been called the "Cambrian Explosion" of new mobility options. Can a Fun Utility Vehicle lead to a functional business model?

Mo' money, mo' problems

Though Arcimoto has existed for more than a decade (founded back in 2007), it's clear from the moment I arrived at its new factory on the day before its Signature vehicle launch that its capital raise has been pivotal to becoming a serious business. Within the last year, the company has leased its new manufacturing facility, grown to more than 60 employees, and brought in the production equipment that is beginning to fill its clean, bright workspace. Desks line one wall of the plant so engineers and marketers can work cheek-to-jowl, while heavy manufacturing equipment like laser cutters, tube benders, and CNC machines lines the far wall. In between, a makeshift (and for now, highly labor-intensive) assembly line hosts a row of the firm's "Signature" three-wheelers.

From the moment you arrive at the plant, it immediately feels like a brand-new startup rather than a decade-old firm. The space is spotless, the equipment is all brand new, the workforce is mostly young and evidently passionate, there's a mix of computer people and car guys, and a frantic bustle fills the air. But there's also an unmistakable hint of chaos in the mix: equipment isn't operational. One production machine was dropped during installation (though luckily I'm told it was covered by insurance). And in the immediate, there isn't a vehicle ready for me drive when I arrive at the pre-arranged time. Nobody seems quite sure how to handle the sudden (but again, planned) arrival of a reporter.

Jeremy Bronson / Arcimoto

Jeremy Bronson / Arcimoto

Jeremy Bronson / Arcimoto

While the electrical team gets an FUV ready for me to drive, I wander the factory with CEO Mark Frohnmayer and Vice President Jesse Fittipaldi as they fill me in on the company's plans. The IPO has allowed Arcimoto to buy more production equipment than initially planned, they say, resulting in what the duo says will be a more vertically-integrated and flexible production facility. The snowmobile/motorcycle/ATV manufacturer Polaris, which incidentally also makes a (gas-powered) three-wheeled vehicle called the Slingshot, is mentioned as an inspiration for the system that produces the FUV's steel tube cage and structure.

But any hope of seeing an FUV go through the entire production process dies fast, as Arcimoto's executives explain how far they still have to go. For now, the Signature vehicles that are being delivered the next day are built largely by hand. And despite their staggering $42,000 pricetag, these are effectively test vehicles. Before Arcimoto can begin cranking out FUVs at the planned starting price of $11,900, it must still build a run of "Beta" vehicles that will be operated by fleet partners later this year. That will provide another level of feedback and prompt another round of design tweaks before the vehicle and manufacturing system are finalized for production.

Already some of the necessary design changes are coming into focus, showing how early in the development process Arcimoto is for an 11 year-old company. When I notice that none of the vehicles I can see around the plant have the fully-enclosed doors shown as an option in the company's literature, I am told that the organic curves of the FUV's frame make manufacturing and fitting full doors more difficult than originally imagined. A minor tweak to the frame, which the company says will hardly be noticeable to the naked eye, will provide dimensions and angles more suited to the optional doors. It's a seemingly minor challenge for a company that is in the midst of the countless tasks of taking a startup from zero to one. But given Arcimoto has eight design revisions already under its belt and millions of dollars of equipment eventually arriving at this plant, that revelation strikes a discordant note.