New Mobility Concepts, Some With Three Wheels, at NY Auto Show
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The 2016 New York International Auto Show (NYIAS) offers a glimpse into the near future of entry-level personal mobility, but you need to know where to look. Take the escalator down to Level 1—also known as the basement—and you’ll discover a pair of radical three-wheeled vehicle prototypes from American start-ups Arcimoto and Elio Motors.
The Generation 8 SRK prototype from Arcimoto.
Eugene Ore.-based Arcimoto proudly displayed its Generation 8 SRK prototype in a modest booth at the front of the hall. The SRK is a semi-enclosed front-wheel-drive electric vehicle with a 70-mile range and tandem seating. It’s piloted via handlebars rather than a steering wheel and delivers a top speed of 80 miles per hour. Its zero-to-sixty time is a brisk 7.5 seconds. Arcimoto also plans to offer a fully-enclosed version of the SRK, as well as the so-called Deliverator, a special model for commercial delivery applications.
Jesse Fittipaldi, Arcimoto’s business development lead, said the company plans to deliver five Signature Series pre-production vehicles in July 2016. Arcimoto will then build a production-intent pilot fleet for at its Eugene, Ore. headquarters in early 2017—based on an order from a single customer. Once the test fleet is validated, pre-ordered vehicles will be produced in summer 2017. The privately-funded company, which was founded in 2007, said it has 700 reservations for vehicles.
The three-wheel offering from Elio Motors.
Meanwhile, this year’s New York auto show was the second appearance for Elio Motors. Soon after its founding in 2009, the company started touting an entry-level base price of $6,800—and an impressive fuel economy estimate of “up to 84 miles per gallon highway” for its fully-enclosed front-wheel-drive three-wheeler. The Elio looks like an airplane on wheels, but is designed to deliver a car-like experience. The vehicle is propelled by a naturally-aspirated 900cc three-cylinder engine, mated to a standard five-speed manual or optional automatic transmission. Top speed is estimated at 100 mph and the zero-to-sixty time at 9.6 seconds.
Elio has experienced a number of production delays—earning skepticism from the press—but the company also boasts a flock of faithful fans. The company claims it has more than 51,000 reservations and a nationwide service deal with Pep Boys. The company bagged $16 million in funding from StartEngine, a crowdfunding platform. Production is currently planned to commence in late 2016, at a former General Motors plant in Louisiana.
Above ground, Nissan treated a select group of journalists to a quick jaunt through the streets of Manhattan in its open-air New Mobility Concept, a four-wheeled electric vehicle known in Japan and Europe as the Renault Twizy. In its 25-mph-speed-limited form, Nissan’s rear-wheel-drive New Mobility Concept is classified as a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV). Futuristic as it may be, it’s essentially a single-seat enclosed souped-up golf cart with a 40- mile range—not far removed from what’s been offered by GEM, the long-time leader in NEVs (commonly sold to retirement communities).
Although the Renault Twizy is available abroad, Nissan has not announced plans to sell the vehicle in the United States. A limited trial of 10 Nissan New Mobility Concepts is underway with the Scoot Networks car-sharing service in San Francisco.
Nissan's New Mobility Concept, also known as the Renault Twizy.
While the Nissan New Mobility Concept targets the urban market, Elio is going after the long-range commuter with normal-car conveniences like air conditioning and an eight-gallon fuel tank. Arcimoto’s slick zero-emissions scooter is somewhere in-between, with an open-air/handlebar design that will appeal to adventurous commuters.
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