Arcimoto CEO Mark Frohnmayer and I chatted about the new Mean Lean Machine Cybertrike. This is Part 2 and the final part of my interview with Mark. If you haven’t read Part 1, you can go back and read that here.
Starting from where we left off, Mark was speaking about Arcimoto’s acquisition of Tilting Motor Works and shared how the team incorporated the technology into the MLM Cybertrike.
The MLM acronym itself
Mark and I joked about the acronym which also stands for multi-level marketing.
“People are like, ‘did you know that Mean Lean Machine is MLM?’ And I’m like, ‘of course I know that,’ and they’re like ‘well don’t you know that MLMs are bad?’ and I’m like, ‘Not this one! It’s actually the ultimate multi-level marketing scheme. Every one of our customers will sell them.”
Here, Mark is referring to word-of-mouth marketing which is something that has served Tesla well. Owners will share their experiences with their friends who will be inspired to buy one.
Making Things That Sell Themselves
The topic of MLMs opened up another conversation about selling and Mark pointed out that the best thing to do is make things that sell themselves.
“For a long time, I actually loathed the selling process but the best thing to do is to make things that sell themselves.”
I agreed with Mark on this point. Make something that you love and people will see it and be inspired.
“Absolutely. And if all I do is just tell people honestly my experience with and how I feel about the Fun Utility Vehicle, the Roadster, and the Cybertrike, I kinda just can’t help myself.”
“I’m just like, ‘it’s so awesome! You must try it! And then you’ll probably want one.’”
The Arcimoto MLM vehicle Tiers
Mark said that there are three tiers or versions of the Mean Lean Machine.
“The Cybertrike is the only one that we have shown what the actual final product is going to look like. But we talked a little bit about the Sidewinder which is going to be the base model.”
“There’s an entry-level model and we’ve not announced pricing yet for any of these but will be coming soon. Then there’s the Cybertrike and then the true Mean Lean Machine that is going to be on the high end. Both of those other ones are in the works and we are very excited to show those when they’re ready.”
A point made at the Arcimoto Ramp It Up! Event
During the Ramp It Up! event that Arcimoto held in February, Mark made a very critical point about the weight of other EVs and the use of materials–especially since we are having supply chain constraints.
In the video, Mark shared an example. The General Motors electric Hummer weighs 9,036 pounds.
“This is a vehicle that when driven alone is more than 40 times the weight of its occupant. That is enough material to build two Model Ys. If we hit our targets, it’s enough material to build eight Fun Utility Vehicles.”
Mark further explained to me that the same material for that Hummer can produce approximately 100 Mean Lean Machines.
The real purpose of Arcimoto’s program.
Mark told me the real purpose of Arcimoto’s MLM program is to make an e-bike class vehicle that appeals to a much wider audience while using a fraction of the material cost of a full-sized car.
“When you think about the real purpose of this whole program, it’s to make an e-bike class vehicle that can appeal to a much wider audience. People who don’t want to fall off a bike, or don’t want to brake a chain, who want to carry a lot more stuff and want a more comfortable ride.
“But provide that at a tiny fraction of the material cost of a full-sized car. And if we follow the news on the limiting factors of electric vehicles, a bit limiting factor is the availability of raw materials to produce vehicles.
“Given that that is the case, we believe that it makes all the sense in the world to really rethink how big the vehicles are that we are using to get around. And that really is the purpose of the Mean Lean Machine.”
“It’s to provide something so awesome in the true micro-mobility e-bike class that it really starts to move the market in ways that it’s still not moving fast enough right now.”
Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.
Energy
Tesla Energy gains UK license to sell electricity to homes and businesses
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
Tesla Energy has received a license to supply electricity in the United Kingdom, opening the door for the company to serve homes and businesses in the country.
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
According to Ofgem, the license took effect at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday and applies to Great Britain.
The approval allows Tesla’s energy business to sell electricity directly to customers in the region, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
Tesla has already expanded similar services in the United States. In Texas, the company offers electricity plans that allow Tesla owners to charge their vehicles at a lower cost while also feeding excess electricity back into the grid.
Tesla already has a sizable presence in the UK market. According to price comparison website U-switch, there are more than 250,000 Tesla electric vehicles in the country and thousands of Tesla home energy storage systems.
Ofgem also noted that Tesla Motors Ltd., a separate entity incorporated in England and Wales, received an electricity generation license in June 2020.
The new UK license arrives as Tesla continues expanding its global energy business.
Last year, Tesla Energy retained the top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings, Tesla held about 15% of global market share in 2024.
The company also maintained a dominant position in North America, where it captured roughly 39% market share in the region.
At the same time, competition in the energy storage sector is increasing. Chinese companies such as Sungrow have been expanding their presence globally, particularly in Europe.
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
