Happy Battery Day! Our February update on everything FUV comes in honor of the energy storage devices that make it all possible. So test your smoke alarms, recharge or recycle depleted batteries powering your home devices, and imagine a future road that’s clean and incredibly fun. How much fun? As one of our most recent test drivers noted, “It’s the most fun you can have with your pants on.”
2020 has thus far been jam-packed with news and events. We wanted to take this opportunity to share with you all the latest updates.
Production and Sales Update
We are planning for a steady increase in production this year. Later this quarter, we anticipate we will step up to three vehicles per build day, and then to four vehicles per build day in Q2. We are also planning to unveil the first pilot vehicles in our Rapid Responder and Deliverator programs this quarter before going into production of those products late this year.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be reaching out to our West Coast pre-order customers with the opportunity to reserve their FUV Evergreen for deliveries this Spring and Summer.
Road America to Provide Nationwide Roadside Assistance and Pre-Certified Repair Centers to FUV Owners
One of our major goals in 2020 is to expand our service network to ensure FUV owners across the country have the greatest experience possible. To that end, we are proud to announce that we have teamed with Road America to provide nationwide 24-hour roadside assistance to all FUV owners. Additionally, Arcimoto will have access to Road America’s network of more than 170,000 pre-certified repair centers across the United States, including more than 16,000 locations in California alone, for certification and training.
As we prepare to deliver FUVs to customers beyond the West Coast, this network will help us to jumpstart growth in new states. Stay tuned. We’ll have more details to share as we roll out this service.
Arcimoto teams with Xponential Works to lightweight the FUV using 3D printed parts designed by AI
3D-printed parts designed by AI? If you hadn’t noticed, we love big ideas. This one, as it often happens with Arcimoto, began with a test drive.
At an XPrize event in Los Angeles, 3D-printing-legend Avi Reichentel pulled to a stop of his first drive, stepped out of the cockpit and said to himself, “I’ve got to get me one of these!”
When it comes to electric transportation, there is a community of forward-thinking people that see this moment in time, as we do, where the moral imperative for change drives incredible business opportunity. Arcimoto’s mission, at its core, is to rightsize the footprint of transportation by reducing the space and weight consumed by our vehicular tools. As such, Arcimoto CEO Mark Frohnmayer’s ears perked up when, after that test drive, Avi said, “You know, I know a thing or two about lightweighting vehicles.”
Soon thereafter, we delivered Xponential Works and ParaMatters a test vehicle and Avi and his teams got to work, using AI and 3D printing to optimize the material content of multiple parts on the FUV. The result? The FUV lost 30 pounds in 30 days.
The key to this effort is ParaMatters’s CogniCAD software which uses AI to create designs with geometries that mimic natural structure or, as Avi says, “designs patented by nature.” The AI explores near infinite design permutations based on the design constraints in order to provide an optimal solution. CogniCAD then automatically combines all the different parts into one homogeneous assembly instead of creating multiple parts that need to be manufactured separately and welded together – a time-consuming activity that leads to heavier and costlier components. These lightweighted parts are then either 3D printed directly out of metal, or printed as molds for casting to produce the final product.
While these parts are still a ways out from actual production, the good news is that they will be backward compatible with all existing vehicles. Currently at 173.7 MPGe, the FUV is already the most efficient EV on the road suitable for the wide range of everyday trips. And this is just the beginning.
To learn more about this incredible collaboration, check out these stories from Ars Tecnica, Forbes, 3D Printing Industry, Metal AM, and 3D Adept.
Arcimoto in the Press
This year alone, we’ve been to Beverly Hills for Abundance 360, Austin for Fully Charged Live, and Portland for the One Moto Show. After hundreds of test drives, one theme continues to emerge: So. Many. Smiles. Here are the latest highlights: Electrek, ABC7 Los Angeles, Tech of Tech, and a surprise drive for Jehu Garcia with friends-of-the-FUV Zac and Jesse of Now You Know.
Upcoming Events
Ready to see the FUV in person? Stop by and say hello!
Daytona Bike Week
March 6-15
Daytona Beach, Florida
MOVE America
May 12-13
Austin, Texas
TU-Automotive Detroit
June 2-4
Detroit, Michigan
EVS33
June 14-17
Portland, Oregon
Thanks for reading. Until next time, drive safe, drive electric, and don’t forget to recycle.
Sincerely,
Team Arcimoto
Forward-Looking Statements:
Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this newsletter are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that express our intentions, beliefs, expectations, strategies, predictions or any other statements relating to our future activities or other future events or conditions and include, without limitation, our expectations as to production and delivery of the Evergreen, the Rapid Responder, and the Deliverator, the establishment of our service and delivery network, our expected rate of production and our expected establishment of rental outlets. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may, and are likely to, differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements due to numerous factors discussed from time to time in documents which we file with the SEC. In addition, such statements could be affected by risks and uncertainties related to, among other things: our ability to effectively execute on our business plan and growth strategy; our ability to design, manufacture and market vehicle models within projected timeframes given that a vehicle consists of several thousand unique items and we can only go as fast as the slowest item; the outcome of the Rapid Responder pilot program; the acceptance of the Deliverator; our inexperience to date in manufacturing vehicles at the high volumes that we anticipate; our dependence on suppliers; the number of reservations and cancellations for our vehicles and the ability to deliver on those reservations; our reliance on key personnel; our ability to manage the distribution channels for our products, including our ability to successfully implement our direct to consumer distribution strategy and any additional distribution strategies we may deem appropriate; changes in consumer demand for, and acceptance of, our products; changes in the competitive environment, including adoption of technologies and products that compete with our products; the overall strength and stability of general economic conditions and of the automotive industry more specifically; and changes in laws or regulations governing our business and operations. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and except as may be required under applicable securities laws, we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
