Elio 3-wheeler discussion thread
 

Thought I'd start a new thread about the Elio 3-wheeler - my strengths - Elio Motors : Elio Motors.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...pse0350715.jpg

From their site :

Why Elio? Simple …

84 mpg
It gets 84 miles to the gallon on the highway. That means you can go from Detroit to New York City on a tank of gas – or drive from Shreveport LA to Dallas and back – then back to Dallas again – and still have about 110 miles left before a refill. How is that possible? Keep reading.

8-Gallon Tank
It can go 672 miles, or thereabouts, because it has an 8-gallon tank and 8X84=672. Of course, other factors will affect your mileage but you get the point.

Find out how much you can save with
the Elio money saver calculator – click Elio_Calculator-arrows
Only $6,800
It only costs $6,800. That’s about what you would pay for an outboard motor to power a rowboat.

Safety
Each Elio comes equipped with a Safety Management System that includes three airbags – a reinforced roll-cage frame, Anti-Lock Braking System, and 50% larger crush zones than similar vehicles. Preliminary safety tests on computer models anticipate a 5-Star safety rating.

American Made = American Jobs
It should come as no surprise that Elio will create a number of much-needed jobs for American workers. We’re estimating 1,500 jobs at our Shreveport, LA plant beginning in the spring of 2014.

Fun
It’s a blast to drive. Imagine every little errand, every daily commute being something you look forward to because it means you’ll be driving your Elio. It looks cool. And face it, you are what you drive, so that will make you one cool person.

Unique
Because of its unique design, people will talk. They’ll also stare, smile, give you a thumbs up and who knows what else. And while everyone is smiling at you from the outside, trust us, you’ll be smiling from within.

Eco-Friendly
This is a very green vehicle – and we’re not just talking about the color. Yes, it gets 84 MPG on the highway, but you’ll be doing your share of city driving, too. Fear not, with its city rate of 49 MPG, you’ll be consuming only 1/3 of what the average American vehicle consumes.

Power in Numbers
An inline, 3 cylinder, 1 liter, 70 HP, fuel-injected, SOHC gas-powered, liquid-cooled, automotive engine.

Our Transmission Mission
5-speed manual or automatic. And yes, it has a reverse gear.

Fast Facts
Top speed is in excess of 100 MPH, and the 0-60 speed is under 9.6 seconds. So it’s not exotic sports car fast, but it’s not slow, either. And while a gas-guzzling muscle car might pass you, no one will pass gas stations like you.

Great Traction
The engine is in the front and it is a front-wheel-drive vehicle. So, with a low center of gravity and weight towards the front, you’ll get great traction action – even in the snow.

You Deserve a Big Brake
We will have 3-wheel disc brakes with the Anti-Lock Braking System on 15″ wheels. So your Elio will not only stop onlookers in their tracks, it’ll stop you, too – quickly and safely.

A Suspension as Independent as You
The first cousin of cool is smooth. So we’ve built Elio on an independent suspension with unequal length control arms, coil-over-spring and shock in the front and mono-shock with coil-over-spring and shock in the rear. The ground clearance is 5.75″ — similar to most of the passenger vehicles you see on the road today.

Heads Up. A Word About Interior Room
Interior measurements are as follows:

Headroom: Driver 39.8 Passenger 36.4 in
Seat width: Driver 20.6 Passenger 25.3 in

Interior Shoulder Width: 26.8 in

Front seat Legroom: 42.7 in
Rear seat Legroom: 33.1 in

Elio has been designed to fit 95% of all men. The tallest person we have had in the Elio is a 6’8″ former college basketball player, the largest is a 6’3″ 325 lb man, and the smallest is a 5’0″ woman (no, we didn’t ask the weight!). They all fit and loved it! If you are outside of these sizes, you’ll just have to hop into an Elio yourself and see how it fits.

How about the outside
Overall Length: 160.5″
Front Wheel Track: 66.8″ (center rim to center rim)
Wheelbase: 110″ (center of front wheels to center of rear wheel)
Overall Height: 54.2″

Listen to the Sound of Silence
The body panels are made of a composite (which is more sound deadening than steel) and attached to a tight, solid body that doesn’t have a lot of moving (read squeaky) parts. These two design features help keep outside noise from getting into the cockpit and getting in the way of your favorite tunes playing on our AM/FM radio
(that’s standard).

When You Need Your Space
The trunk space will be at least 27″ x 14″ x 10″, enough for an airline carry-on bag or a golf bag with the rear seat down (47″+). If you’re the working type, tools, blueprints, briefcases, and who knows what else can also be accommodated.

Uncommon Standards
When you own an Elio, you’re not just a customer, you’re part of a family. So we’re not going to lure you in with that $6,800 low price, only to mention things like A/C and an AM/FM radio are extra. They’re not. You get those items plus heater, defrost, the three airbags, power windows and door lock, seat belts, tempered glass, and windshield wiper at no extra cost.


Looks pretty darn good IMO. You could certainly modify it to get better fuel economy if you wanted.


As I said in another thread - how could they do all of this for $6800???


Jay

What is the cheapest new car as of now ?
A Nissan Versa for 11500$
(source : 10 cheapest new cars in America - Nissan Versa (1) - CNNMoney)

I might be wrong but I believe :
Divide it by 3 and you have the price out of the factory.
1/3 goes back to engineering
1/3 is for commercials / margin for the distributor

If you can reduce 2/3 of the price to half, your price is now 2/3 of those 12000.

The car is smaller hence less steel => there is your second reduction in price, say 10%.
We are at 7200 already.

Now the company is based on a single model / single variant, basically a start-up so you labor cost (for engineering) are much cheaper than those of the big 4.

Anyway, they don't have much choice because the vehicle is an UFO (or UDO) so they have to have a major hit on the market and the price is the ultimate argument.

Question arise : what engine would that be ?

I really would like to see this succeed where the others have not, but I'm not too optimistic.

We hope !

Paul Elio tried this before.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. - George Santayana

Mercury® Four-Stroke Outboard Motors : Cabela's

Lying throws up major red flags for me.

I really like the idea of it, but I keep visualizing going on a date with a beautiful young lady sitting behind me.

You need a hobby.

I wouldn't pay $900 for an outboard motor.

I read about court cases where companies argued that rational people would not have believed their claims--and won.

In the article that SentraSE-R shared:

Was that direct? Is optimism good enough?

An exaggeration definitely but if they'd said "your fishing boat" they would have been right on target .
Yamaha F60LA Outboard Motor (Four Stroke Midrange) - Price: $6495.00

Always the same old question :

Is it for sale ?

Not until 100 million dollars appear in the equation is what is written on the subject ...

So, nothing happens until we have that magic number? Is there even any way of knowing how close we are? I sure hope that we do not need deposits to make up a majority of that. If they need 100,000 $1000 deposits, that would be one out of 2,319 adults in the U.S., according to USA QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau (and my math).

I would love to own one of these if they come to fruition but articles like this make me wonder.
Financial Reports Show that Elio Motors is Definitely Not Gonna Happen

The concept of the Elio is viable, but its financial scheme is not sustainable considering the American market.

Seems to me it has all the makings of another Aptera or Moller air car; grab fistfuls of cash while you can then *poof* Oh Gee, where did it all go? And sorry, no car for you.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps3c8d148c.jpg

Overall this whole Elio thing sounded overoptimistic, but this article really rips into it as being completely impossible and ridiculous.

It does have a certain scam-ish feel to it for some reason.

We'll see if it happens.


Jay

Blackjack Zero
 

I built and have a Blackjack Zero (FWD 3 wheel reverse trike). It's the only fuel injected Moto Guzzi version in the world. It is probably on the other end of the price spectrum. I've been building and fixing things all my life. I know good and bad engineering, quality and junk. I am certain that for the price of an Elio, if it can be done, it will be junk. Just the electrical system on my Blackjack Zero cost $3K. I get 37 mpg and ride it hard like a race car. It makes driving a Mini Cooper seem like driving a mini van. It's a cross between a go kart and Mini Cooper at 1,050 pounds. It's a chick manget, but I'm happily married. See Facebook Blackjack Zero if you are interested.

Kurt,
I have seen pics of your car and would like to see it in person one day. I'll hit you up on Facebook. The Elio is a great concept, I hope they at least sell kits for others to at least make use of the molds. Would anybody else here be game for that?

It'd be great to have a 85+ mpg kit car to put together. An enclosed vehicle put together like Ikea.

With a cool factor look to it though.

My Ikea furniture did not turn out very well. :)

Yep and you could fit a diesel if you choose and run biodiesel ... that would really be cheap !:thumbup:

Man, that IS discouraging. Some can be hopeful though. Even if I never got one, it would be nice to see it succeed.

Made up of 95% US parts and many of those parts available off the shelf is partly how they can get by making it so inexpensive. 1000cc 3 cylinder motor up front with manual or standard tranny driving the 2 front wheels would seem a good design. In fact, from the video seen from this link shows what appears to be a Geo/Chevy Metro/ Suzuki Swift engine and dash instruments. That is a piece of cake to work on. (had a '98' Chevy Metro but traded it on a '06' Ford Ranger pick up truck. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? :confused:)

Video - WNEM TV 5

They say roll out starts summer of 2014. We'll see.

Even a few of those low-displacement stationary Diesels could work decently on a vehicle like the Elio due to the light weight. Eventually could run cheaper than a 250cc motorcycle.

I'd have one .

I'd have one .

Someone is trying to stop Elio from using the factory in Shreveport, so she is being taken to court, correct?

No, a Caddo Parish Commissioner Commissioner is suing the parish to keep it from spending $7.5 million of taxpayer's money on the Elio plant.

That's how I understood it.

Elio is looking for support from the community to cut it's start-up costs, probably saying it will provide X-number of jobs and millions of dollars to the local economy. Not everyone is buying it...

Correct me if I'm wrong.

The commissioners there should ask the commishes in Cali and Ohio about car-building hucksters.

New businesses are always a risk. If Elio does build vehicles and succeeds, the $7.5M is a drop in the bucket, and they will see a good return on that investment. They need to do their due diligence, and decide.

Do they have any better options for jobs, there?

It seems like that area has had bad luck in recent years and they might not be eager for another risk.

Anyone else notice all the EV and green blogs rooting for Elio to fail?

When something sounds too good to be true, it's usually too good to be true. You can't find a new 600 cc. sports bike for $7000. That's with economy of scale from the major manufacturers. Now, can anyone realistically expect to buy an Elio from a start-up for $6800?

Agreed. To me, that's the biggest Red Flag.

If they did the pre-production cost estimations correctly I would think they would see that you can't sell a vehicle with all of the accessories offered, and produced in the U.S., for that price - and make a profit.

It would be much more believable at twice the price.

Strange! No one has mentioned an Elio going around the outer perimeter of the U.S. Came through CA headed for that balloon festival in AZ. Pointing out all the ngatives sure makes me wonder how many positives are being swept under the rug.

I "followed" the Elio through Facebook, and I doubt so many photos can be "Photoshopped"

That's not the issue. Anyone can make one or two demo models, but few can manufacture commercially. Realistically, Elio's chances are very slim.

On the good side, the Caddo Parish investment won't be a loss. From what I hear, there's enough copper in the plant to pay back the Parish if Elio defaults.

I'm guilty as well. I always want car companies to build small aero cars and three wheelers. But then i nit pick this and that, and play the devils advocate. I do hope the Elio gets made for that price. It beats anything on the market, and if they end up at dealers, i may as well buy one myself.

For what it's worth, take a look at their facebook page with 52,000 likes. It's pretty much crazy town positive over there.