Solo Car

Solo Car
Business | Not Quite a Car, Not Quite a Motorcycle: A Vehicle Built for One
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Not Quite a Car, Not Quite a Motorcycle: A Vehicle Built for One
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From the front, the Solo looks like a car, with hood, grille and headlights. Take a peek from behind, however, and it tapers down to just one wheel.
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For decades, the best-selling vehicles in the United States have been pickup trucks. Hulking, gas-powered models from Ford, Ram and Chevy have had a grip on the market that seems unbreakable.
But there will always be companies that try to upend the status quo, powered by idealistic thinking and, ideally, deep pockets. One such company is set to take its shot this summer with a single-seat car called the Solo. A tiny, three-wheeled electric, it will be available in Los Angeles later this year.
“So many vehicles are being driven by one person,” said Paul Rivera, chief executive of the Solo’s manufacturer, ElectraMeccanica , based in Vancouver, British Columbia. “Why does everybody think they need to drive around and leave three or four empty seats?”
Nearly 90 percent of Americans who commute by car, truck, van or motorcycle drive alone, according to the Census Bureau. Positioning itself as a right-size alternative to hauling around all of that excess automotive tonnage, the Solo takes up about a quarter of the space of a typical S.U.V. It also looks like a car — at least from the front — with the usual hood, grille and headlights. Take a peek from behind, however, and it tapers down to just one wheel.
Technically, the Solo is a motorcycle, though it’s fully enclosed and drives like a car with a steering wheel and foot pedals. It has only one seat, but it’s accessible with doors on both sides. It also has a trunk, and amenities common to a full-size passenger vehicle, including Bluetooth stereo, air conditioning and a backup camera.
Having three wheels, it is not subject to the sorts of crash-testing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requires for street-legal, four-wheeled vehicles, but it does have a seatbelt and an integrated roll bar.
The Solo isn’t the first small, three-wheeled car to squeeze into the crowded automotive market. The Bond Bug, an angular British three-wheeler in pumpkin orange, went out of production in 1974, after four short years. Carver, based in the Netherlands, has been making different iterations of its leaning, three-wheeled “man-wide” vehicles since the 1990s. And the Corbin Sparrow, with its striking resemblance to Mother Hubbard’s shoe, failed to take off in any meaningful way after going into production in 1999.
“There’s been so many of these,” said Karl Brauer, executive publisher of Kelley Blue Book. “A lot of people want to solve the problem of clean, space-efficient, inexpensive personal transportation.”
Microcars have tended to sell in microscopic numbers in a new-car market with millions in annual sales. Fiat sold just 6,556 of its Fiat 500s in 2019, despite their seeming ubiquity. Mercedes pulled its Smart car from the U.S. market after selling just 680 units last year. Toyota yanked its Scion iQ after selling just 482 of them in 2015.
“It’s not to say a group of people won’t buy these,” Mr. Brauer said of the Solos, “but that group is in the hundreds, not the thousands, and something that sells in the hundreds is not saving anything: not the planet or our congestion problems.”
He added, “If you can’t get tens or hundreds of thousands of these to sell, it’s not having any sort of meaningful impact on any of these problems it’s supposed to be solving.”
Mr. Rivera, ElectraMeccanica’s chief executive, declined to reveal initial production or order figures for the Solo. While its Chinese factory is capable of making 20,000 vehicles a year, “we won’t do that right out of the gate,” he said. “We will launch very slowly and methodically.”
ElectraMeccanica has its roots in a decades-old Italian company that built replica Porsches in the 1960s. That company relocated to Vancouver in the 1990s and created the ElectraMeccanica subsidiary in 2015, from which the Solo was born. Two batches of earlier generation vehicles have been manufactured so far, in limited quantities, some of which are still being driven in Canada.
The new production version of the Solo will be manufactured in Chongqing, China, in partnership with the Chinese motorcycle manufacturer Zongshen Industrial Group, a company that already makes about three million motorcycles annually. ElectraMeccanica plans to set up a North American assembly facility within the next two years.
After launching in Los Angeles later this year, ElectraMeccanica will expand sales to San Francisco, Seattle and Portland — early-adopter cities in states that also have generous incentives for electric vehicles. California provides a $750 rebate for the Solo; Oregon, $2,500. Mr. Rivera said the Solo would expand to the rest of the country over the next 18 months to two years, then globally.
Taking a page from Tesla, which sells its cars through retail stores rather than dealerships, ElectraMeccanica is offering the Solo through shopping mall kiosks, starting with two in the Los Angeles area — Westfield Fashion Square in the San Fernando Valley and Westfield Century City. Together, the malls have 24 million visitors a year, according to a Westfield official.
Malls in California are closed now because of the coronavirus outbreak, but the Solo kiosks will be up and running when the state’s stay-at-home orders are lifted, possibly this month.
The coronavirus is changing the transportation landscape in ways that seemed unthinkable even two months ago. Public transportation ridership is plummeting throughout the country. Cars are suddenly unaffordable to millions who have lost jobs. And the threat of climate change remains very real.
So maybe — just maybe — the Solo has a chance. Arriving on the market when travelers are hesitant to touch what others have touched, it provides for social distancing. Priced at $18,500, it also costs about half as much as the current average sales price for a new passenger vehicle ($35,667 as of March 2020). And it has zero emissions, allowing for up to 100 miles of travel per charge at a top speed of 80 miles an hour. It recharges with Level 1 or 2 chargers.
“Conceptually, it makes sense,” said Juan Matute, deputy director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. “But what’s socially desirable and environmentally beneficial isn’t necessarily personally optimal.”
American drivers tend to buy “the most capable or largest vehicle that they need,” Mr. Matute said, even if they need that capability for only 5 percent of their trips. Thus the popularity of pickup trucks and S.U.V.s. While the Solo’s price is far less than an average car, it may still be a stretch for many during a downturn. And even though 50 percent of electric vehicles sold in the United States are sold in California, installing the infrastructure to charge them is an additional hurdle, Mr. Matute said.
Regardless of whether the Solo finds a market in Los Angeles or elsewhere in the United States, it already has an unequivocal fan in Leona Green. The owner of the Greens and Beans deli in New Westminster, British Columbia, Ms. Green has been driving a first-generation Solo every day for three years.
“It’s adorable,” she said. Driving her little green Solo with a custom “Han” license plate, Ms. Green uses the car to deliver sandwich trays, four of which fit in the trunk. It is small enough for motorcycle parking, and she spends about $15 a month on electricity to recharge it.
“Not a day goes by that people aren’t stopping and taking pictures of the car, even after all this time,” she said. “I love it.”

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The three-wheeled pure electric vehicle can go 100 miles on a single charge and should reach the United States next year.
I love 2-seater, RWD convertibles and own a 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata for pavement fun and a lifted 2001 Miata for pre-running. I race air-cooled Volkswagens in desert races like the Mint 400 and the Baja 1000. I have won the Rebelle Rally, 7-day navigational challenge, twice and I am the only driver to compete in an EV, the Rivian R1T.
It's tough to find an affordable car these days, let alone an affordable electric vehicle. Canadian company Electra Meccanica is looking to change that scenario with the debut of the Solo. Slated to go on sale in the United States in 2017, the Solo will cost just a skosh over $15,000. With a federal tax credit of $7,500 plus state and local incentives, you could conceivably drive away in an EV for less than $8,000, or $4,000 less than America's cheapest car, the Nissan Versa.
There is a catch, however. The Solo, as per its name, only seats one person.
A quick look at the competition and that single-seater is looking pretty good. The least expensive EV available currently is the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, starting at $22,995, and the segment tops out with $100,000 or more for a Tesla Model S.
Where other EVs on the market today manage to look like traditional cars, the Solo looks, well, kind of weird. Like a car from a 1950s sci-fi movie with the backseat smooshed out of it. With two wheels up front and only one in the rear, the Solo is classified as a motorcycle. It's enclosed, but expect to still follow the helmet laws of your state.
The Solo's 16 kWh battery gives the motor 82 horsepower and 140 pound-feet of torque. 0-62 comes in 8 seconds and it is limited to a top speed of 81 miles per hour. However, the manufacturer claims a real top speed of 137 mph. How is that possible with such relatively low power output? Aerospace composite chassis, baby. The Solo tips the scales at only 992 pounds.
The driving range of the Solo, provided you DON'T speed racer it around town, hits 100 miles. It can be charged in 3 hours on a 220-volt outlet or 6 hours using a 110-volt.
Creature comforts are few and far between in the cabin. With only 10 cubic feet of cargo space split between the front and rear, pack light. The Solo boasts a backup camera and power windows as well as Bluetooth and a USB port, but that's about it.
Electra Meccanica makes air conditioning optional and the fit and finish looks skewed toward budget, at least in the preproduction vehicle. The final version may get an improved interior.
Oh, and remember what I said about the Solo being classified as a motorcycle? As such, it's not required to have airbags so just keep that in mind as you speed by semi-trucks at 81 miles per hour.
Electra Meccanica doesn't want the Solo to be the only car you own and has priced it as such. It starts at $15,171 and that is before the tax credit of $7,500. You'll have to check with your state for other credits and rebates, but the Solo qualifies for that coveted carpool lane sticker in California.

Published October 11, 2022 12:16pm EDT

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At least you never have to give anyone a ride.
French automaker Renault has revealed a new one-passenger electric vehicle designed to be driven without a license.
The Solo concept is envisioned for the company's new Mobilize division, which is focused on urban car sharing and subscription programs.
The single-seat Solo rides on three wheels, with the front two powered and pulling it and the rear used to steer.

The Solo is a one-passenger vehicle concept.
(Eric Piermont/AFP via Getty Images)
More a scooter with improved safety than a car, it was designed with a safety structure and airbag that allows it to be operated without wearing a helmet or seat belt and is steered with a joystick-like controller.
Its top speed is just 16 mph, and it is only 1.5 yards long, which allows six to fit in a standard parking space.

The Solo is controlled with a joystick.
(Mobilize)
Renault hasn't said when or if it will definitely put the Solo on sale, but has a slightly larger offering along the same lines.
The Duo is an update of the current Twizy quadricycle and has seating for two in tandem.

The Duo will be available for subscriptions in 2023.
(Eric Piermont/AFP via Getty Images)
It's offered in a version with a top speed of 28 mph that can be legally driven by 14-year-olds in France and another for adults that's limited to 50 mph.
Its range is estimated at 87 miles between charges, and it is constructed from 50% recycled materials and designed to be 95% recyclable.
Mobilize will offer it through subscription and lease plans starting next year.
Gary Gastelu is Fox News Digital's automotive editor.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2022 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset . Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions . Legal Statement . Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper .

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