it is my understanding that only 5 states that still consider this as a motorcycle.. NC being one of them. They told me in Raleigh that there is legislation that has already passed the house and onto the senate.
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Just to clarify this a bit for you. According to the federal government the Elio is a motorcycle and that is actually a good thing overall as it keeps things much simpler for Elio Motors as it keeps costs lower. The issue with that however is that states may require people in motorcycles to wear a helmet and/or have a motorcycle license and this is up to each state to determine.
There are currently only five states which would require adults to wear a helmet in the Elio and NC is indeed on of them. The last I heard there were about 21 states, including NC, which still required a motorcycle endorsement to drive an Elio and a few other issues in various states which need to be cleaned up. Elio Motors has a VP of Government Affairs, Joel Sheltrown, who is in charge of making sure these legal issues are resolved. Joel does a great job and as this really is not a controversial issue he has been very successful at getting laws changed around the country so far. This year should be really big for him as there are bills ready to work their way through many states to resolve these issues with NC being a focus of attention as it has both the helmet and motorcycle license issues which need to be resolved.