microcarfan
  • Electric microcar
  • United States
  • Three wheels
  • Seats in tandem

Arcimoto FUV

Also known as Fun Utility Vehicle, SRK (prototypes)

Two seats in tandem under a roof with open sides, two wheels in front and one behind, and 0–60 mph in 7.5 seconds. Its maker spent 12 years on prototypes, was worth $1.2 billion on the stock market in February 2021, and stopped building it less than two years later.

Orange and black three-wheeled tandem two-seater with Rent Me Now lettering on brick paving, visitors behind.
An orange and black production Arcimoto FUV rental car on the waterfront at Key West, Florida, United States, in June 2021.Photo: Sharon Hahn Darlin, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

The spec plate

Arcimoto FUV

Fun Utility Vehicle · Eugene, Oregon

Built
2019–⁠2023Production launched 19 September 2019; halted in January 2023
Country
United StatesEugene, Oregon
Maker
Arcimoto, Inc.Founded in 2007 by Mark Frohnmayer
Engine
Two electric motorsSaid of the SRK in 2017; a 19.2 or 20 kWh lithium-ion battery; a 12 kWh option
Power
57 kW77 hp; 89 hp was given for the SRK prototype of 2011
Length
2,896 mm1,499 mm wide, 1,702 mm high
Weight
816 kgKerb weight by one Wikipedia article; the other gives 1,800 lb as the gross vehicle weight
Seats
1 + 1In tandem; one on the Deliverator
Wheels
3Two at the front, one at the back
Price new
$17,900Base price; $23,900 for the Roadster; the 2017 target had been $11,900, and the prototypes were priced at $20,000 (2009, a target) and $41,000 (2012, a planned pilot run)
Top speed
121km/h121 km/h75 mph; 130 km/h was given for the SRK of 2017

How big is it?

True proportion

2.90 m

It is 74 mm shorter than a Fiat 500, about 1.7 adults laid end to end.

  • 1.50 m wide
  • 816 kg: about 11 adults
  • Two seats, one behind the other
Drawn at true proportion. The track is 3.6 metres long; the adult stands at the same scale. The Peel P50 is the smallest production car, on every page for comparison.

The story

History

Mark Frohnmayer, an engineer educated at Berkeley, founded Arcimoto in Eugene, Oregon, in November 2007.1 Its idea was an electric microcar laid out as a three-wheeler: a pair of wheels in front, a single one behind, and two seats one behind the other.21 The prototypes came by generations. The third, the “Pulse”, was shown on 23 September 2009 with a target price of $20,000, and the firm took $500 deposits. The SRK followed on 23 April 2011, with 89 hp and four body designs, and in April 2012 a pilot run of 40 sixth-generation SRKs was planned, at $41,000 each. The eighth generation was steered by handlebars instead of a wheel.1

In 2017 Arcimoto raised money through a Regulation A+ offering and was listed on Nasdaq under the ticker FUV. It leased a factory in Eugene from 1 October, the Arcimoto Manufacturing Plant, which opened on 29 November with room to build up to 5,000 a year.1 At the Los Angeles Auto Show at the end of that month the first SRK was handed over. electrive reported a base price of $11,900, two motors, 130 km/h (81 mph) and a range of 100–200 km (62–124 miles).3 That was a pre-production car; the FUV itself was presented in February 2019, and its production was launched, with the first deliveries, on 19 September 2019.21

The Fun Utility Vehicle

FUV stands for Fun Utility Vehicle.21 The production car has 57 kW (77 hp), and reaches 60 mph in 7.5 seconds and 121 km/h (75 mph) flat out. Its battery is given as 20 kWh, or as 19.2 kWh with a 12 kWh option; in town it goes 164 km (102 miles) on a charge, but at 70 mph only 51 km (32 miles).21 It measures 2,896 mm (114 in) from end to end and 1,499 mm (59 in) across, and costs $17,900 before options.2

Arcimoto built it into a family. The Deliverator had one seat and room for 159 kg (350 lb) of cargo, and in July 2020 electrive reported on Deliverators for Wahlburgers in Key West, Florida. The Rapid Responder was for the emergency services; the Cameo had a seat facing backwards for filming; the Roadster, priced at $23,900, had neither roof nor cage; and the MUV, a flatbed, was built only as prototypes.145 In July 2021 the company showed a pre-production FUV for driverless operation.2

Boom and bust

In January 2021 Arcimoto bought a second plant in Oregon, of 17,200 m² (185,000 sq ft), expected to build 25,000 a year, and on 26 January announced that it would buy Tilting Motor Works, a maker of three-wheel conversions for motorcycles, for between $9.25 and $10.25 million.165

This amazing technology manages to combine added safety and stability of a three-wheeler with the ride sensation of a two-wheel bike.

Terry Becker, chief operating officer of Arcimoto, January 2021, as reported by electrive.5

In February 2021 the company was valued at $1.2 billion.1 Production at the new plant began in March 2022.7 On 17 January 2023 it told the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had stopped, and its shares fell by 60 per cent that day.7

We have halted our production of vehicles and will require substantial additional funding to resume production, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all

Arcimoto, filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, January 2023, as quoted by electrive.7

Christopher Dawson became chief executive in April 2023. The report for the third quarter showed $9.5 million of overdue bills and $232,000 in cash. The website went dark in April 2024, the shares were delisted from Nasdaq in May and traded over the counter as FUVV, and in May 2025 a simplified website reappeared, offering the FUV and the MUV.1

Three-wheeled two-seater with red front bodywork, a black tubular cage and red wheels, a man and a woman aboard.
A red-bodied Arcimoto SRK prototype with two people aboard in tandem, in the United States in June 2011.Photo: Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr
Black open-framed three-wheeler with ARCIMOTO.COM on its side and two men aboard in tandem, passing stone steps.
A black Arcimoto prototype with two men aboard on a test drive outside the Oregon State Capitol, Salem, in February 2013.Photo: Oregon Department of Transportation, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr

Pictures

More photographs, old and new

Variants and relatives 1

  • Three-wheeled tandem two-seater with a bare tubular steel frame and a yellow coil spring, a smiling driver in a car park. Opens a larger view

    1 An unclothed Arcimoto prototype, its tubular frame exposed, with a driver aboard in California, United States, in October 2010.

Picture credits (1)
  1. 1 Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0

Variants

Prototypes, and a trike for every job

The Arcimoto family
VariantYearsWhat differsHow many
Pulse (Generation 3)2009Prototype; a $20,000 targetPrototype
SRK (Generations 5–8)2011–⁠17Prototypes and pilot cars; 89 hp in 2011; handlebars on Generation 840 planned for a pilot run
FUV2019–⁠23The tandem two-seaterNot found
Deliverator2020–One seat and 350 lb of cargoNot found
Rapid Responder2019–For the emergency servicesNot found
Roadster2021No roof or cage; $23,900Not found
CameoNot recordedA rear-facing seat for filmingNot found
MUV2022–⁠23A flatbedPrototypes only

Specification

The FUV of 2019

Motors and battery

MotorsTwo electric motors3Said of the SRK in 2017
Power57 kW (77 hp)21
Battery20 kWh lithium-ion219.2 kWh, Farasis cells, with a 12 kWh option, by the company article
Range164 km in town; 106 km at 55 mph; 51 km at 70 mph21
Efficiency173.7 MPGe in town1

Body and chassis

LayoutTwo wheels at the front, one at the back2
Seats2, in tandem21
BodyOpen-sided cabin with a roof and windscreen; the Roadster has neither roof nor cage21

Dimensions

Length2,896 mm2
Width1,499 mm2
Height1,702 mm2
Wheelbase2,007 mm2
Weight816 kg kerb2The company article gives 1,800 lb as the gross vehicle weight

Performance and running

0–60 mph7.5 s21
Top speed121 km/h (75 mph)21
Price new$17,900 base2$11,900 had been the target in 2017

Famous for

Three points

  1. Fun Utility Vehicle

    Two seats in tandem on three wheels, built in Oregon.

  2. 12 years of prototypes

    From the Pulse of 2009 through the SRKs, one of them steered by handlebars.

  3. $1.2 billion, then a halt

    Valued at its peak in February 2021; production halted in January 2023.

Survivors and collecting

Today

How many FUVs were built or sold has not been found, nor any owners’ club or auction sale. A photograph shows a production FUV working as a rental car on the waterfront at Key West in June 2021.

Sources

Numbered as in the text

No Arcimoto release or road test has been found. The account rests on the two English Wikipedia articles, on the car and on the company, and on reports by electrive; no total of cars built has been found. Sources are given as plain text; the links are on the Credits page.

  1. English Wikipedia, Arcimoto. Used as a lead.
  2. English Wikipedia, Arcimoto FUV. Used as a lead.
  3. “Arcimoto starts delivering its electric trike”, electrive, 7 December 2017.
  4. electrive, headline of 29 July 2020 on the Deliverator and Wahlburgers in Key West.
  5. “Arcimoto to acquire Tilting Motor Works”, electrive, 26 January 2021.
  6. “Arcimoto found 5x larger production base in Oregon”, electrive, 16 January 2021 (headline).
  7. “Arcimoto halts production due to finance issues”, electrive, 20 January 2023.