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You can drive the Elio in 41 states without a motorcycle license

Heck, you won't even need a helmet.

A year after successfully crowdfunding $25 million to build its 84 mpg closed-cabin tricycle, Elio Motors has done serious legwork to ensure that most folks can drive theirs off the lot without needing additional training. After New Jersey and Rhode Island updated its laws this summer, the company has secured exemptions or recategorizations in 41 states from requiring a motorcycle license to use their ultra-efficient vehicles.

When the company began urging lawmakers to ease requirements in 2012, only 11 states didn't force tricycle drivers to get a motorcycle. Since then, Elio has been redefined as a new class of vehicle, the "autocycle," not subject to the training needed to operate an open-air motorbike. It's not difficult to believe: the enclosed trike has gas and brake pedals, a steering wheel, a seatbelt and airbags. While eight of these recategorizations are not fully in the books, they are currently "going through the legislative process."