Reader Question: The Arcimoto Exception?

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Here’s the latest reader question, along with my reply!

Ryan asks: I was really excited to read about Elio Motors on your site years ago. I love riding my 400cc DualSport motorcycle for its fuel sippyness and its simple maintenance but the weather has other plans over half the year here in the northeast. I currently live in a state that has no mandatory automobile insurance, yet society has somehow not collapsed. However I’m looking to escape winter hell and apparently in the sunshine state there is a motorcycle exception for insurance which I will gladly take advantage of. So I started looking into trikes for those not so sunny days and found a company called Arcimoto out of Oregon that is starting production on a reverse trike with tandem seating that is very well faired and is supposed to get optional doors in the future. Unfortunately this is an electric vehicle which I’m not a fan of. It is reasonably priced and has enough range to be an economical commuter. My question is this: What are your thoughts on Arcimoto and do you think their vehicle is being green lighted for highway use despite its safety deficiency compared to the Elio simply because it fits the EV agenda?

Love your articles and comments section. Thank you.
My reply: I have nothing per se against the Arcimoto, which I haven’t test driven but am generally familiar with. I am however addled by this weird affliction that causes me to believe free people ought to be free to buy any type of vehicle which meets their needs, as they – rather than the government – define them.
The problem, of course, is that we are not free.
Somehow, over the past 50 years or so, the government acquired the power to dictate car design. Specifically, “safety” – which means how well a given car survives various government crash tests. It has nothing to do with whether a car is likely to crash.
Assuming a car is roadworthy, it presents no danger as such to others and therefore, it is no one else’s business how well it does in the event it is crashed. To dispute this is the same as claiming you have an ownership stake in other people – a truly despicable notion.
A free person should be free to weigh risks – and benefits – for himself, without his decisions being countermanded by other people (which is all government really is).
So, I am for the Arcimoto – and the Elio – and any other type of vehicle that free people are willing to freely exchange their money for.
Unfortunately, you are right about EVs of every type being given special advantages over IC-engined vehicles – because the EVs jibe with the government’s plans while the IC cars, regardless of their merits, do not.

. . .

Got a question about cars – or anything else? Click on the “ask Eric” link and send ’em in!

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