Greetings,
I have been a beta tester for OT with ELF #7. I thought some might like to ask questions about it.
I use mine outside they envelope they market to: I commute 50 miles round trip from south of Clayton NC to NC State in Raleigh. I manage to do it it 3 times a week if the stars align. It works very well for this. Disclaimer - I have been riding bikes and trikes on the road for years. You have to have some of the same mindset as with regular cycling - weather, flatting, willingness to adapt route to time of day, etc. You have to get an additional battery to go 25 miles. I get about 13 miles from the one that came with it. The larger Chinese replacement (they are all Chinese I think) cost me $450 incl shipping and I can get all 35 miles from it with the small one that is about 38 miles of range before charging. It is too heavy to manage much distance without a battery.
I like it I think they have done a good job designing it. They will have to find better vendors for some things and the price will not hold at $4000. Things will change like selection of transmission, accessories, etc. $5000 is not too much for this, it is a great bargain really. I bought a nice recumbent trike in 2001 for $4500 (Greenspeed GTO with some customizations). These are nearly handmade until there are really large numbers being sold. A nice handmade custom two wheeler will easily top $5000. That doesn't make it any easier to take, but id you used it a lot the savings are real compared to a car. It cost about $0.10 for the power to go 25 miles. I can't buy enough drugs to get the same effect on my BP as the exercise gives me, so that is a savings of note.
I am having little trouble with cars, but I pick and choose my routes well and am lucky to have a very nice, quiet two lane from most of the ride to work. The main issue, now solved, was that some people will not pass on a double yellow line. Then others start lining up behindu and get irate. I find that if I wave them around things go much better. They feel like I am on their side, not just an obstacle, it gives them permission they may not give themselves. It seems to work quite well. In general all trikes get better treatment than two wheelers. There is less expectation that you could get out of the way if you wanted to. They look like fun, leading to the other difficulty, people pulling beside to talk.
I also use it for errands in town during the day, visits to the doctors, plumbing store, lunch. It is all good.
