Elio Motors, The Next Big Thing?!!...

[botsapper]

...no name yet. How about contributing an appropriate moniker?

Car of the Future? - CNBC

[doclees]

Originally Posted by botsapper

...no name yet. How about contributing an appropriate moniker?

Car of the Future? - CNBC

the UAB 84. And please pledge we do not call it a car. More insurance and more big brother regs.

[bhtooefr]

I believe it only matters how it's titled, not what it's marketed as.

(Ohio actually treats a three-wheeler titled as a car, and a three-wheeler titled as a motorcycle differently.)

Oh, and it's probably 1499 pounds curb weight (as much lead in the nose as they can, to get it RIGHT to that limit), because 1 pound more, and many states class it as a car even if it's legally a motorcycle. 1749 is the max under EPA and NHTSA specs for a motorcycle.

[doclees]

Lets not give the bureaucracy anything to confuse them. I read somewhere they are trying to bridge the gap of the 3 wheeled vehicle. Give them any chance to tax you more for something and they will jump at it.

[GRU]

i don't think they are worried too much about the Cd. of the vehicle as the frontal area is much much smaller than an average car you can buy now, hence why it gets good gas mileage..Even if it had a Cd. of .40 or more (which it shouldn't) the frontal area is probably around 13 sq feet or so

[Ryland]

Trouble is, some states define motorcycles as having to have the driver sitting upright instead of reclined, so these might not be allowed to be sold, at least not new.

Having driven a Corbin Sparrow and enjoyed it, I really look forward to taking one of these for a drive, the Sparrow's have their door on the right hand side and I like that more then the left hand door, but seeing as how narrow it is and that you will be exiting the vehicle in the shadow of the front wheel seems like it will feel really safe.

[doclees]

Originally Posted by Ryland

Trouble is, some states define motorcycles as having to have the driver sitting upright instead of reclined, so these might not be allowed to be sold, at least not new.

Interesting. Which states and how do they define reclined and upright?

[bhtooefr]

I could see Harleys falling foul of those statutes.

Really, though, the ultimate answer for freeway-capable vehicles isn't the tadpole layout, in my opinion. Three-wheelers are necessary right now due to the restrictions on four-wheelers, but I'd much rather have a class along the lines of Europe's quadricycle classes, with less weight, lower safety standards, and lower licensing requirements (mind you, in my world, those "lower licensing requirements" would be similar to today's class D operator license for a normal car, and I'd rather have existing car operator licenses be much closer to a CDL. For any vehicles in the 8500 to 26000 GVWR bracket that requires no CDL currently, upgrade those to a CDL, given that their emissions exemptions are due to being a commercial vehicle), but with fairly tight power restrictions.

The stability requirements of a tadpole make the design a mediocre compromise, when we're discussing a freeway-capable vehicle (which means that the occupants need to be pushed back for crash safety reasons, making stability worse, and stability is even more critical at high speed). City vehicles, and especially human powered vehicles, the speeds involved are much lower (crash safety requirements are inherently lower, allowing for better balance, and stability is less important), and the weight more critical, and that's where three-wheelers can really win.

[Ryland]

I may have been misinformed, because the closest thing I can find is this:

(c) No person, except passengers of sidecars or drivers and passengers of three-wheeled motorcycles, shall operate or ride upon a motorcycle except while sitting astride the seat, facing forward, with one leg on either side of the motorcycle.

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=169.974

but the person who first brought this up to me left out the fact that there was an exception for 3 wheeled motorcycles, they were at the time saying that this would prevent 3 wheeled Zap brand cars and trucks from being sold as motorcycles.

[NeilBlanchard]

It's the "astride" and "one leg on either side" bits that *should* define a motorcycle.

No matter how small the frontal area is, it would be better to have a small Cd. It is too bad they chose to have outboard wheels, frankly. Those are going to increase the Cd a lot so that it might as well have been 2X larger and sat the two people side by side.