Please Help Me Rebuild My Organic Transit ELF
Donation protected
Hi, My name is Chris Hall, and I'm looking to raise funds to rebuild my Organic Transit ELF velomobile. For many years I was once the largest collector owning 6 of these odd and unique vehicles as they were my main mode of transportation to serve as a primary vehicle for my autism-related charity organization known as Computers For The Autistic Foundation.
Recently back in 2021, I moved down to Winston-Salem, North Carolina helping other customers of this machine with one of the last ELF experts who owned their e-bike venture known as Sol-Mobil. When being down there I was asked to help with building 2 brand new Organic Transit ELFs for research purposes for the person who had bought the company to try and revive it after going into bankruptcy in 2019.
After that job was complete we decided to we would bring down my entire collection to try and restore one or 2 units using the massive amount of spare parts that I collected over time of being donated defective or broken units. Due to many internal conflicts between me and the other ELF technician, I was asked to move out of his home which I rented and paid for every month until I was told I had to return to Boston without my collection of ELFs even having to sell my only working unit to cover my costs to travel back along with my pet rabbit.
Recently the other ELF expert decided after a year of me moving back to Boston that he no longer wanted to keep my original ELF stored on his property unless I paid him a large amount of money to fully rebuild it using parts that he already had. Just for it to be returned to me in the state of disrepair that I was forced to leave it when attempting to restore it as he wanted to use the rest of my parts and broken units to be sold off to "help" cover his loss of not complete jobs for other customers he had charged and taken money from. He knew I needed the parts to rebuild the unit and he knew outright I wasn't capable of paying what he wanted for them even though I owned the parts even after assisting him in fixing other customer's units and assisting in many other projects using many spare parts from my collection to fulfill other customer's needs first. So he decided to just load up my unit and another rare EV known as the Sinclair C5 into the back of a van and haul it up without any means of repairing it with any of the parts that were required to get it back in working order.
I am now having to get in touch with other companies who specialize in EV repair which is gonna cost me more than ever due to this machine's rarity only having only 850 of these built in the world with most of them no longer in working condition not being able to access what I had to repair these with paying for items I already owned. I am gonna need to have everything made from scratch. My projections into its repair I am looking into the thousands to get it restored and operational unless sponsored by others as due to my limited income being on Social Security only being allowed to have $1,300 or so which is mostly used to pay rent which is $700 and for my emotional support animals and my well-being which I'm only left with $263.40 which doesn't leave me anything to be able to save up to repair this on my own.
I do e-bike conversions for people as a side gig through my e-bike venture known as "The Pesky Rabbit E-Bike Repair" but am paid only a small amount for my labor due to the restrictions of SSI limiting what you're allowed to make without being penalized or having it taken away from you.
My plans for this unit and the reasons why I want to restore it is that this machine is a great way to get around without the need for a driver's license which is for someone like myself who is disabled doesn't wish to drive a gas-powered vehicle being a full cargo cyclist allowed me to develop the life skills needed become well known for helping deliver donations to those in need who were on the autism spectrum for their education and life skills preparation using this unique and unconventional way to promote micro-mobility and eco-friendly ways of transportation to help those in need.
This unit along with many of the others I owned was featured on Fox 25 News, WBZ News Radio, and even Spotify promoting Computers For The Autistic Foundation which was an organization I started back in 2012 due to not being able to get employment due to my disabilities keeping me from getting a job I decided to help those in need by refurbishing recycled computers which were donated by those in the local community who didn't want to pollute the world with creating unnecessary e-waste but allow their old devices to be repurposed to help those with.
Links to articles featuring my ELFs being used for this purpose.
https://www.boston25news.com/news/braintree-man-refurbishes-donates-computers-children-with-autism/2NTBNVN5NNHZHDR5AMESMIT2WI/
I deeply thank anyone who considers helping as our first task is to get it moving under its power without the necessary safety components like a wire harness for lighting and installation of solar components and rear window. At the time of making this which is December 28th, 2023 is gonna be well over $2,000 just for the e-bike electronics alone from an e-bike component manufacturer in Canada. I hope that in 2024 I can make it a goal to try and get this restored and use it again for its intended purpose once again.
Organizer
Christopher J Hall
Organizer
Braintree, MA