r/Eugene • u/pinpinbo • 1d ago
Ex employees of Arcimoto… META
Did you managed to sell the stocks at the peak and if so, did that make you rich?
I am curious to hear stories from the ex employees.
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u/muscatluv 1d ago
funny how most of these comments have nothing to do with OP's question?
As an employee, I loved working for the company but only invested a small amount of my personal $$$. I knew the risk I was taking and wasn't upset when I lost it. I had hoped that the company would have been able to continue production.
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u/Giant_Brainworm 14h ago
That's because OPs question is nonsensical. Nobody sold at the top, and nobody got rich. Everyone knows this.
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u/TheTimmyBoy 1d ago
Nah, I only got to work there a year before getting laid off with everyone else (didn't vest). My coworker did cash out at the peak and got something like $100k out of it, used it to buy a house.
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u/Chardonne 1d ago
I really wanted to like these. But I just couldn’t. That felt vehicle-ish enough that I wanted sides.
I’m surprised to see used ones selling (well, okay, listed) for $9,000.
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u/Kapowpow 1d ago
Ya. In rainy Eugene, the vehicles didn’t have sides. Only two seats. Not enough space for even one person to grocery shop. Doesn’t look safe enough to drive on any street with a > 40 mph speed limit. These vehicles were dumb af.
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u/Vaseline_Lover 1d ago
They are safe to drive over 40mph and can even go up to 80mph. I’ve had no issues with max speed up to 70. You also can get side doors plus zip in windows so they can be used all year round. I love my Arcimoto!
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u/Upset_Form_5258 1d ago
Sure they can go over 40, but I absolutely would not want to risk getting hit by another vehicle traveling at those speeds in one.
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u/Same-Comedian7212 7h ago
Nobody ever wants to get hit, but yet here we are driving around. There are motorcycles out there, there are wispy small Kia's, there are those little tiny smart cars..... my Arcimoto beats all of them for a feeling of safety while on the road.
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u/Ill-Arrival4473 1d ago
I felt tha same way. 2-3 years old and 6-10k off. Not a good sign. I test road one with my wife a few years ago. It was fun but I like cars and motorcycles.
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u/Chardonne 1d ago
Especially when you think about this being Oregon... it rains a lot. Would I always have to suit up as if for a motorcycle ride? But then I don't have the free feeling of a motorcycle. They're just too much like a Little Tykes to be truly a road vehicle (for me). I still always stop and look at it when I pass one in a parking lot though!
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u/Ill-Arrival4473 1d ago
I noticed when I drove one it felt super strange turning. Also, it was during the summer and the dome glass burned my head. If I was driving in the rain I would for sure have a rain suit on which would take a lot of the fun out of it. There’s a reason I don’t really ride motorcycles in the rain anymore. It’s not comfortable.
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u/Vaseline_Lover 1d ago
You can get side doors and windows so it’s fine in the rain,
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u/RevN3 1d ago
You can't get side doors NOW though, can you? Or any proprietary parts I expect.
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u/Vaseline_Lover 18h ago edited 1h ago
Yes you can. Parts and Services are still available. Edit: I never understand why I’m downvoted for providing factual information. Anyone?
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u/Vaseline_Lover 1d ago edited 1h ago
You can get side doors and even zip-in windows so they can be driven year round. Edit: why the downvotes for providing relevant information?
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u/Howlingmoki 1d ago
For a vehicle made and sold in the rainy PNW with the intention of being used year-round, those should not have been extra-cost add-on options.
Removable for nice-weather conditions like a Jeep, sure. But not having them as standard equipment with as much as they cost was idiotic.
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u/fzzball 1d ago
You know it doesn't rain sideways, right?
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u/Howlingmoki 1d ago
Ever roll down your window while driving and get a face full of rainwater because it blows in?
Ever get your car drenched when a vehicle in another lane drives through standing water?
JFC, yours is the stupidest comment I've seen on Reddit today.......so far.
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u/Wiley-E-Coyote 1d ago
Every time I saw them driving around, it just reminded me of "The Entity" from south park.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK362RLHXGY
I imagine the Arcimoto pitch meetings went a lot like this presentation from Mr Garrison.
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u/band-of-horses 1d ago
The two baffling things about it were the lack of doors, and pricing nearly that of a Nissan Leaf.
I never could figure out what a good use case for it was. Best case, they'd make a cool rental vehicle at cruise ports on islands or something but that can't be a huge market. They'd be a great tuk tuk or scooter competitor in SE Asia too except China is already turning out those type of vehicles for like 10% of the cost.
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u/OmegaPhthalo 1d ago
I considered Arcimoto because I like supporting local business but I bought a Leaf instead: no regrets.
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u/dwayne-billy-bob 1d ago
Bizarrely, I believe they are eligible for the federal used EV tax credit, as well as for the Oregon State EV program. If a person played their cards right, they could get one for basically free.
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u/Chardonne 1d ago
Well, you get 30% off for the federal credit for used EVs, up to $4000. If you found a car for $4000, you wouldn't get it for free. You need a car around $13,500 to get the max $4000 credit. I thought the Oregon State EV program was out of money? I'm on their waiting list (email) to be informed if they get funded again, but I haven't heard anything. If that's back in business, I'd like to know!
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u/dwayne-billy-bob 1d ago
The Oregon State program is renewed every year. $5k for a used one if you're income qualified. Should reopen in May or June.
That 5K plus 3kish from the feds is pretty close to free.
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u/Chardonne 1d ago
We are definitely income-qualified... but buying a used EV probably this month. Could we still qualify for the Oregon State program if it reopens in May? Would we have to buy in May, that is?
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u/dwayne-billy-bob 22h ago
You need to wait until the program has reopened to make the purchase. They will not do retroactive rebates. You can go on the program website and sign up for updates.
We have used it each of the last 2 years and now own one EV and one PHEV. It's been an effective incentive for us, as I don't think we would have purchased either without the subsidy.
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u/dwayne-billy-bob 22h ago
You might also want to call or email them to get a better idea of the reopening date. I've actually been quite impressed with their responsiveness to various questions I've had over the years.
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u/Chardonne 22h ago
I’m signed up for updates, but … I’m buying a used EV now. And will use the $4000 federal credit, so there’s that. Plus got (IMO) a good price on a good vehicle. Our first entirely electric one!
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u/dwayne-billy-bob 22h ago edited 22h ago
Yep, if you need it now, you need it now. What are you going to end up purchasing?
I wasn't sure how we would get along with a full EV but it has been a very positive experience. We use it a ton for trips around town and for moderate distance excursions, like over to the coast, up to Portland, etc.
The public charging infrastructure still has a ways to go but it is better than I thought it would be. Up and down i5 Is pretty good, but you'll need to do some planning for trips over the mountains to the East, etc.
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u/Chardonne 20h ago
We're going with a 2021 Leaf with 12 full battery bars. This car would be used overwhelmingly for 5-10-mile trips in town; occasionally going to the airport. Maybe once a year to King's Valley. Possibly Portland? Though I tend to take Amtrak for that, and it isn't even once a year. That's about it. We have a second car, a Prius.
I don't personally know a lot about EVs, but I have a family member who's a battery engineer with Tesla, who has owned a Leaf and a Bolt (and a Tesla), and who is happy to advise. He called this deal "a steal," and said we'll love our Leaf. He was sympathetic to my saying sitting in a Tesla just felt creepy. Some people love the interface, some don't, and I think we fall in the camp of those who don't.
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u/dwayne-billy-bob 16h ago
For around town, a Bolt or Leaf is a nice match. Their drawback is super slow DC charging, and in the case of the Leaf, the obsolete chademo port. You probably know this already, but it won't be a good road trip vehicle. But that's what your other car is for.
We considered a Bolt before opting for an id4. Glad that we did as it is a better match for our use. That doesn't mean that's true for everyone.
A used Leaf has the advantage of someone else taking the depreciation hit from what already wasn't a huge starting price. You get basically a new car for $10-15k (after tax credit). Not bad.
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u/thirdworldtaxi 1d ago
Just wanted to tip my fedora to all the commenters who could apparently have solved all of Arcimoto’s problems single-handed but decided instead to shitpost their brilliant strategies here
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u/Du_Kich_Long_Trang 1d ago
Even better when their "solutions" are things already available on the vehicles as options.
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u/Perenium_Falcon 1d ago
Years ago before I was a ski lift electrician I was a maintenance tech at Attune and hated my job. I applied at Arcimoto because it seemed like a really good place to work with a cool vision. Personally I thought there was room in Eugene and the world for a low mass EV for ones and twos to go about their day in and of course I would love to be a part of it.
I never even got a confirmation that they received my resume. Years passed, I moved to bend and found my dream job but from time to time I’d check in and see (and hope) that things were going good. I’m sorry it turned out to be a shit show.
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u/Giant_Brainworm 1d ago
Noone sold at the peak. Expectations were that the stock would continue to climb, there was a lot of hope and optimism at that time. I sold at $5, which was when I realized the FUV was not going to be the massive world-saving product we'd been told. The decision to move to that massive frozen tundra RAMP before even needing 3 shifts at the AMP made no sense to me. It was all for show. All of those OG employees with thousands of shares watching their balances slowly dwindle to zero, sad.
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u/Omgwtfpnutbuttabbq 1d ago
lol no. Mine wasn’t vested in time before I saw the writing on the wall and left.
All the personal stock I had purchased before the hike (which was about 2 shares after all the reverse-splits) was so worthless I couldn’t even buy a cup of coffee with the proceeds.
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u/dwayne-billy-bob 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not an employee, but someone who stupidly purchased the stock in the company (luckily nowhere near the peak, but still).
Those shares are still in my brokerage account and are valued at $0.01.
Not each. That's the collective value for a lot of 5,000 shares (well, after a bunch of reverse splits, it's now considered to be four shares).
I can't imagine being someone who bought in at the peak or or received The stock as employment compensation. I believe it topped out at about 20 bucks per share.
I'd imagine there are a lot of ex-employees with similar amounts as I have as mementos from their time working there.
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u/ltlcrab 1d ago
I wanted to love Arcimoto and perhaps if their company was based in San Diego or Miami, they might have stayed in business a lot longer. Plastic zip up doors in the rain and cold don’t even work for golf carts without a defroster so you can see where you are going unless you coat the plastic with Vaseline. /s
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u/marky_mark541 1d ago
I know someone who did some trade work on the building and they said they watched some of the employees smoke weed and drive rc cars all day, then he said he didn't see any cars get made when he was there and said he thought it was just a scam to get startup money.
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u/InThisHouseWeBelieve 1d ago
The Arcimoto, like ranked-choice voting or those shoes with individual toes, was a solution to a problem that no one actually had.
It was a borderline scam on the public, too, in that buyers received tax benefits from owning one that weren't extended to, say, buyers of locally made bicycles. (Perhaps the founder's famous name and political connections had something to do with this?)
Frustrating to see half a city block (plus millions of dollars given in good faith) wasted on this boondoggle. That the company kept smugly telling the world there was some moral aspect to driving the things was diarrhea on the cake.
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u/BillyBalowski 1d ago
Ranked choice voting has well established benefits over first past the post systems, at least for informed voters and people who aren't intimidated by a voting system that is marginally more complicated than 'pick one'.
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u/InThisHouseWeBelieve 1d ago
Ha ha ha. "I'm telling you--they, you get a better grip when you're wearing them. They, your feet, they can't hold on the ground without, you know, the toes. Like nature intended. Wait, where are you going? I'm telling you that--"
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1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/GerthBrooks420 1d ago
I heard a bird sing the melody to crazy train
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u/gianthoginyoazz 1d ago
I can barely hear anymore. Gotta check my ears. Wax build up? Too many metal shows without ear plugs? Fuck if I know.
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u/Real-Plankton-7498 1d ago
My stock was worthless by the time I was vested.