What’s up with your car?
It’s called an Arcimoto. It was manufactured in Eugene, Oregon. I grew up there and that gave me an affinity for it. It’s very functional for me most of the time – it goes on the highway at 75 miles an hour if you can brave it. It’s a little weak in the winter because it has no windows. There’s just two in New Mexico. They only manufactured 600 before they hit the brakes and stopped manufacturing, which is pretty upsetting. If things break, there’s a lot of enterprising people around who can cope; i’ve already found a guy who’s an excellent machinist and can fabricate parts out of nothing. I figure if worse comes to worse, I’ll rent a backhoe and have a ceremonial burial.
I get a lot of attention, so I use it to advertise our store, The Travel Bug. Most people give you a quick glance or a thumbs up. But some, much to my consternation, honk their horn and scare the shit out of me. It’s halfway between a motorcycle and a car, so you’re highly attuned to the noise of the world, and the noise of this world is mostly cars. The worst are the big Ford F-350s and the diesel pickups. They take pride in their rumble.
It takes no infrastructure whatsoever. You come home every night, plug it in, and it’s good for as long as it’ll go. Most people drive 20 miles or less a day, and I’m certainly one of them. A lot of people buy about ten times more than they need.
But the reason I have it is because it’s totally cool.
SUBSCRIBE TO SANTA FE MAGAZINE HERE!
Photo SFM