Editor’s note: Rob Cotter, the inventor of the solar, electric and pedal-powered ELF vehicle, is finding new challenges at every step of further development. He shares his trials and tribulations with other entrepreneurs in this ExitEvent recap of a recent event at the American Underground. ExitEvent is a news partner with WRAL TechWire.
DURHAM, N.C. - Nearly two years ago, Rob Cotter was busily building a prototype of a new type of solar, electric and pedal-powered vehicle we in the Triangle know as the ELF.
It’s styled a bit like a smart car but with some of the qualities of a golf cart and a tricycle—it has three wheels. You can pedal, or just sit and steer. It’s a new class of vehicle, one that has baffled legislators, police officers, trade officers and city officials.
Is it a car? Or is it a bike?
Buyers haven’t seemed to care. An early 2013 Kickstarter campaign brought in $225,789, more than doubling Organic Transit’s $100,000 goal. Cotter has sold about 300 ELFs in the year since they began shipping, growing his staff to 25 employees and revenue to $1.3 million. ELF buyers have come from seven different countries.
And demand is such that his team will make and ship 1,200 of the $5,495 (and higher) vehicles in the next 12 months. One of those will be a Juice ELF, which will make fresh squeezed juices daily in Durham, and make deliveries.
But inventing something so new you’re the one defining it—“the innovator’s dilemma” Cotter calls it—presents some unique challenges. He shared them with other entrepreneurs last week at an American Underground “HelpFest.”
The entire story can be read online at ExitEvent.
