Arcimoto has created a $12,000 electric trike — and we checked it out

It's easy to tell the difference between a motorcycle and car, right? One has two wheels, one has four.

Except that there are now plenty of vehicles available that have three wheels.

There's the Can-Am Spyder, the Campagna Motors T-REX, and the Polaris Slingshot, to name a few. There's also the Elio, which recently paid a visit to out New York office.

Soon to join the party is the all-electric Arcimoto SRK (those aforementioned rides all run on gas), effectively a $12,000 tandem three-wheeler motorcycle that can be outfitted with a fully enclosed "cabin" or converted to delivery van duty.

I've samples the T-REX and the Slingshot, which run on gas, as does the Spyder. Obviously, the SRK is something different.

It might be the ultimate city vehicle. And we checked it out:

SEE ALSO: We just checked out Elio's tiny car that gets 84 mpg and costs only $7,300 — here's what it was like

Arcimoto swung by our Manhattan office for a curbside briefing and test drive. It was a lovely day. The Oregon-based startup has thus far taken about $8 million in funding and has worked through 8 prototypes of its vehicle.

They brought a pair of SRKs — one red and one blue.

That's Mark Frohnmayer, the founder. He's an entrepreneur who sold his previous company, GarageGames, before starting Arcimoto.