It appears that Arcimoto, the maker or 3-wheel EVs in Eugene Oregon has gone out of business. Nimbus of Ann Arbor Michigan has, once again, delayed release of its Nimbus One. Other manufacturers have gone by the wayside. This doesn’t make sense to me.
A step up from all these vehicles is Aptera. While it is not shipping anything yet, it seems to be on schedule. Yeah, it needs more funding to get into production but it has its plans together and some partners in place to make it happen. A trip to their web site tells you what they are doing and even offers you a chance to invest. From that site you can see they are projecting a potential market of 600,000 vehicles per year.
Now, Aptera is not looking at the low-end 3-wheel market. (Their current vehicle design is three wheels but it is like a real car with a sturdy body and everything else you would expect in a car.) Quite different from the Nimbus One but their markets don’t overlap. Yes, a different kind of vehicle but, to me, the biggest difference is that Aptera is telling you what they are doing (and why) and encouraging you to participate. There is more information about the Nimbus One from a couple of (now two year old) reviews than on their web site.
It is hard to imagine that it is impossible to make and sell a Nimbus One for $10,000 considering how much less than an Aptera it is. That is, less design, less regulation, way less technology, way less body, no solar, … .
Where I live (Guatemala City) I could see a market for thousands, probably tens of thousands of a Nimbus One-like vehicle here just for the delivery work done in the city. Are these manufacturers just not looking at the market?
