Meet Mark Frohnmayer & Arcimoto

By Greg Henderson

To paraphrase Mark Frohnmayer, 

“Doing it right in business is to begin with Vision and Direction. It is vital to the most sustainable businesses to solve a meaningful problem and to be a learning organization for the world.”

Frohnmayer is the Founder and President of Arcimoto Fun Utility Vehicles, or FUV. 

“Our thesis since the beginning has been to develop an incredibly fun and highly useful vehicle at a disruptive price point the mass market can afford,” said Mark Frohnmayer, President and Founder of Arcimoto. 

On September 19, 2019 the dream became reality with the production release of the first Arcimoto FUV. It was bound to happen. 4,000 people have made deposits for their own FUV, many when the idea was barely more than a concept. To meet Mark Frohnmayer is to immediately believe in him and to trust his judgement, process and honesty.

Mark graduated from UC Berkeley in 1996 with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. After 11 years in the computer games industry and the sale of his first startup, GarageGames, Mark has turned his entrepreneurial energy towards sustainable transportation. His current endeavor, Arcimoto, founded in 2007, is building an ultra-efficient, ultra-useful new vehicle into the marketplace…

Frohnmayer has served on the Oregon Transportation Commission and as a Technical Advisory Member of the Oregon Innovation Council.

Arcimoto’s mission is to help catalyze the shift to a sustainable transportation system. They spent most of a decade developing the Fun Utility Vehicle, an insanely efficient everyday electric vehicle that’s also a ton of fun to drive.

In September 2017 Arcimoto went public on Nasdaq (FUV) in order to transform from a development stage venture into a manufacturing enterprise.

Tests conclude a rigorous curriculum implemented over the last ten months. Because the FUV contains equipment not present on most motorcycles, such as seat belts and an upper frame assembly, due care necessitated additional testing above and beyond what is typical for motorcycles on the road today. Some highlights of the testing work:

Salt-spray resistance – Completed

Electrical reliability – Completed

EMC – Pass

CISPR – Pass

Lighting system – Pass

Motorcycle brake system – Pass

EPA range – Completed

Sled-test battery integrity and G-sensor disconnect – Pass

Battery integrity side pole impact – Pass

Seat belt anchorages pull – Pass

Roof crush resistance – Pass

Sled-test structure and seat belts – Pass

Nearly forty years ago I sat in a warm comfortable kitchen in south Eugene looking across the table at Oregon’s Attorney General, David Frohnmayer. He and his wife Lynn were the nicest people you would ever want to meet. He was president of the National Association of Attorneys General and would become president of the University of Oregon. His biography seems impossible to the ordinary mind; how could anyone do so much, be so well spoken, be so kind and have the knowledge to lead as effectively as he did? It was my honor to share coffee with such a statesman.

Mark Frohnmayer says to look at his father’s biography convinces him that he could never compare to such a man. Humility must run in their blood.

After meeting with Mark, I was not surprised how he could be involved the way he is. He is certainly his father’s son. Mark Frohnmayer is doing just fine.

Greg Henderson,

Founder/Co-Publisher

Southern Oregon Business Journal