Cheap EVs From Failed Startup Are Piling Up in Arizona Scrapyard

[Zoidz]

TheDrive
Just outside Gilbert, Arizona is a scrapyard that’s accumulating tons of a single, strange type of vehicle. Videos of the pile of three-wheeled EVs are circulating the internet, igniting speculation and rumors about why they’re being destroyed. But the reality is simple: They started breaking and couldn’t be fixed, so there was only one thing to do with them.

You’re looking at the remains of dozens of ElectraMeccanica Solo EVs, a three-wheeled commuter produced from 2018 to 2023.

In August 2022, ElectraMeccanica received a complaint from a customer that their Solo had lost propulsion while driving. More reports followed in September, leading the company’s engineering team to try to diagnose and address the issue. They worked out that “a defect in the motor controller and inverter or the battery controller may cause the electric motor to shut down”—but not how to fix it. The problem was escalated to ElectraMeccanica’s executive team, which in February 2023 initiated a recall for almost every vehicle sold to customers in the United States, totaling 428 Solos.

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[Dark-Fx]

Ship one to me

 

[TollKeeper]

Sounds like a bunch of projects for Rich Rebuilds

 

[DCFC]

I saw a couple around Los Angeles. One would hope the batteries and motors were scavenged, but somehow I doubt it.

 

[Marchin_MTB]

what a waste. hope they can recycle the batteries at least.

 

[NeedSumCoffee]

Would love to pull a battery out and put it in my golf cart

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

LS swap! /s

 

[mikehmb]

Ship one to me

I want to take 20 and create a dedicated SCCA category for them.

 

[Dark-Fx]

I want to take 20 and create a dedicated SCCA category for them.

Would be pretty cool to have a spec racing class out of vehicles that exist in this same situation. GM should have done it with the EV1 instead of crushing them.

 

[CharonPDX]

Wow. Just piled up looks *EXCEEDINGLY* strange. Like they're toys. (Which they kind of are.)

I had a preorder for one of those. I also own an Arcimoto FUV, and have a preorder for an Aptera, so I'm kind of a junkie for 3 wheel EVs.

Then I test drove a Solo at an early launch event with "production intent" vehicles.

Immediately canceled my preorder. Those things may *look* more "car-like" than my Arcimoto, but they are a death trap. Acceleration was crap. Braking was crap (to the point of being dangerous.) Handling was crap. Suspension was crap. The test drive was in a mall parking lot, and *pavement seams* felt like huge nasty speed bumps.

It's a good thing they had a fault that required recall, because they would have failed once people started actually driving them anyway.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Reminds me of when MB/Smart terminated their Car2Go car-sharing program in San Diego. Friend of a friend bought half of them and brought in my friend to help sell them to private parties. Other than some sun damage on the roofs, all were in pretty good condition. Took several years to sell them all and he kept one as part of his commission. Fun little car for neighborhood beer and pizza runs. Very zippy. Motorcycle-like acceleration.

 

[COdogman]

Looks like the pile of Lime scooters on 90% of downtown Denver street corners.

 

[TollKeeper]

Looks like the pile of Lime scooters on 90% of downtown Denver street corners.

There was one of those parked in the middle of the road near my work. Apparently, they only work in Denver, and stop moving around 100 feet from the city limits. Absolutely useless things.

 

[COdogman]

There was one of those parked in the middle of the road near my work. Apparently, they only work in Denver, and stop moving around 100 feet from the city limits. Absolutely useless things.

I see a lot of folks using them in certain parts of downtown, but there always seems to be a pile of them outside of hipster favorites like artisanal outhouses and organic wool cap shops.

 

[Dark-Fx]

I see a lot of folks using them in certain parts of downtown, but there always seems to be a pile of them outside of hipster favorites like artisanal outhouses and organic wool cap shops.

Have to assume that means you frequent those establishments in order to make said observation.

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