The Elio - High Hopes For This Unusual Underdog - HybridCars.com
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A colleague, Jo Borras (who I sarcastically call “Elio’s biggest fan,” because actually he’s more than a little skeptical), informs me the provisional lease on Elio’s current manufacturing facility in Shreveport, La., expires in 2016. This means, if the start-up doesn’t have the money to move forward, the entire facility, along with the dreams of the Elioites, could literally be headed to the scrap heap.
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So, if they can't get going by 2016, it sounds like it's game over.
What's rather suspicious is that they were claiming very specific numbers re: fuel economy and price from a very early time, when they didn't even have an engine selected, really. And, the engine specs vary every time you ask them. I've seen every permutation of 55 hp, 60 hp, 50 ft-lbs, 55 ft-lbs, and 60 ft-lbs.
And, I don't think economies of scale are with them to use their own engine, unless IAV has another customer for the engine design. (And given who IAV's main owner is... and that owner already
has a suitable drivetrain (only needing a slight drop in compression to run on regular, or Atkinson cams, maybe a SOHC head to cut costs, maybe a slight drop in displacement to improve efficiency (or the aforementioned Atkinson cams), and delete some emissions controls to cut cost and improve efficiency), complete with the automated single-clutch manual transmission that I was told, today, that they'd be using as their automatic option...)
Edit: Just to clarify, they didn't name a supplier for the transmission. Just that it would have an automated single-clutch 5-speed as an option.