Directed Technologies Will Test Arcimoto EVs In Australia
Directed Technologies and Arcimoto recently announced the testing of Arcimoto’s Fun Utility Vehicle (FUV) and Deliverator across Australia. Some of Directed Technologies’ clients include the Australia Post, Ambulance Victoria, and FedEx.
I’ve recently sat down with Arcimoto CEO Mark Frohnmayer for a two-part interview which you can read here and here.
Mark Whitmore, the Global Sales Director at Directed Technologies, shared the following statement:
“Our clients are increasingly demanding smarter, safer, and more sustainable delivery vehicles to fit their needs, and we see the small-footprint Arcimoto vehicles as filling an emerging market gap between bikes and vans to open an exciting next-generation nimble delivery vehicle category.
“We see this as an opportunity to lead on two levels: with Directed’s class-leading digital fleet management technologies and Arcimoto’s rightsized electric vehicle, which together can optimize last-mile delivery options of our clients while fitting seamlessly within their sustainability and technology vision.”
Arcimoto CEO Mark Fronhmayer sat down with me to share his thoughts and a bit more details on the collaboration between Arcimoto and Directed Technologies. He told me he had spoken with the team at Directed Technologies very recently and that they were really excited to test Arcimoto’s two vehicles. The vehicles are a standard Deliverater and a modified Deliverator with a larger box.
“They’ve been putting it through a battery of tests and apparently it has performed better in some of those tests than any of the other vehicles that they had tested in the last ten years. I’m excited that they’re excited.”
Direct Technologies is focused heavily on delivery applications, and so is the testing. Mark explained that they are driving the vehicles as a delivery driver would normally drive them.
“I got some of the videos and they were just beating on it — driving it fast over very bumpy roads. They expressed enthusiasm that they were impressed with the product. Then they also saw our RAMP It Up event where we unveiled the Mean Lean Machine. They said that there’s a lot of opportunity for that product family down there as well.”
Mark shared a 10-minute video clip from the RAMP It Up presentation in the video below. Mark explained that manufacturing the Mean Lean Machine takes fewer resources — fewer minerals, metals, and rare earth elements — than the typical vehicle.
For example, the GMC Hummer EV weighs 9,063 pounds. “This is a vehicle that when driven alone, is more than 40 times times the weight of its occupant.” Mark explained that the GMC Hummer has enough extracted material to produce two Tesla Model Ys or eight Arcimoto Fun Utility Vehicles. He added that it’s enough material to make 100 of the new Arcimoto Mean Lean Machines.
Mark told me that against the backdrop of the heavy GMC Hummer EV, he thinks that Arcimoto can do a lot better with the same amount of materials in terms of delivering clean transportation. He also explained that Directed Technologies has been an ally ever since before Artimoto started EV production.
“The push to right sized mobility and to get real clean transportation is being felt all around the world. We always enjoy it when people see the potential for the Arcimoto platform in real practical solutions for their transportation problems whether it’s individual mobility or getting packages across town. That has been a conversation that has been brewing for a long time.
“I’m very excited that they are seeing very good results.”
One thing Mark has learned about the Arcimoto platform is that it’s great for both individual consumers and fleet operators as well. The tests, which will take place over a 90-day period, have shown this.
“The purpose of the Arcimoto platform is to hit a wide range of everyday mobility tasks with something that’s incredibly efficient. To me, both the initial interest in testing and, of course, what we have seen from them so far indicates that the platform is spot-on for next generation mobility not just for consumers but actually a wide array of fleet applications as well.”
Mark also placed special emphasis on efficiency, especially since the materials used have a high environmental cost.
“The Mean Lean Machine and the Platform 2 work that we’re doing which is that whole next level of efficiency in terms of micro-mobility–next quarter of weight reduction, cost reduction, efficiency improvement –we’ve got to be honest about the fact that the materials that go into electric vehicles are highly refined, extracted energy-intensive and carry a big environmental footprint.
“If we’re constrained by those resources, then we need to be as efficient as possible in the deployment of those to maximize the number of rides we can build and rides we can deliver for that material footprint.”
The idea that the same amount of extracted materials to produce the GMC Hummer EV is enough for two Tesla Model Ys or 100 Mean Lean Machines is mind blowing. Mark agreed with me on that point.
“It’s staggering to think that you can build a hundred Mean Lean Machines with the same amount of extracted material that goes into one Hummer.”
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