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

[Grant-53]

Ask Vic Valdes how much it would cost to built a new copy of his Vetter Challenge 233 mpg bike. I imagine it would be less than $6000 USD.

[wdb]

Originally Posted by BLSTIC

Software differential? You mean two speed controllers with the same torque request?

That would be fantastic... You could mess with that in so many ways to create the ultimate in traction & yaw control

Already being done in the new Acura NSX as well as a few other hybrid supercars.

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by wdb

Already being done in the new Acura NSX as well as a few other hybrid supercars.

Freebeard probably posted that because the Arcimoto has that for not much more than the Elio's target price.

[freebeard]

freebeard is probably lower-case even when it starts a sentence.

Probably off-topic in a loser trike thread. Is the NSX autonomous-ready?

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Probably off-topic in a loser trike thread. Is the NSX autonomous-ready?

Ouch. Like seeing a beautiful woman and wondering if she can keep herself happy

What purpose would the NSX have except for the pleasure of driving it?

[freebeard]

I'm on board for the Minimum Viable Product SRK. I think autonomous-ready is a good compromise. It has a smart-phone cradle in the handlebar. Although I could accept the pocket-prison-cell culture and self-employ delivering people's groceries.

Reason #1 for an autonomous NSX? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost-riding

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by freebeard

freebeard is probably lower-case even when it starts a sentence.

Probably off-topic in a loser trike thread. Is the NSX autonomous-ready?

As I typed it, I knew it was lower case but my english teacher says I have to capitalize the first letter. I should have said, "That was posted by freebeard because..." as to not constrain the beard.

[freebeard]

I know, it's tough. I practice on aerohead.


Teach: "What about e. e. cummings?"

[visionary]

This is one of my favourite threads on the forum, mainly because it is full of opinion and witty comment. In the early days it was a split between optimism and scepticism, but lately the only debate is over "is he a crook or a fool".
And I think that's a shame!

There's still much good that can come from this discussion, so I'd like to ask you all to consider a serious point and give some opinion on that.

The "barriers to entry" in vehicle manufacturing are fairly high, I think we would all accept, so imagine yourself in Elio's shoes at the start of this (mis)adventure.
We can see clearly with the benefit of hindsight that this project was doomed from the outset, but what alternative strategies were open to him? And would any of them have been more likely to succeed?

Personally, I'm most interested in the volume production conundrum, or "manufacturing hell" that Elon Musk describes. The central problem is how can you compete on cost without the sales volume and attendant scale efficiency?

So, if you start small (because you can't get plant & equipment investment for an unproven product), how can you grow quickly enough to capitalise on the market, before the established players come and fight you?
Look at Tesla, now every major car maker is taking them on! Will they get a return on their investment?

My own take on this, is that the only way to enter this mature market is to compete in a "niche" that is not price sensitive and build volume organically. The problem is that, low-cost efficient vehicles tend to be highly price sensitive!

[Frank Lee]

Elio didn't even have a developed product. Not prior, not during, not after, not now. After how many MILLIONS collected and spent???

But the clincher is Elio put the bulk of his energy and capital into fundraising and marketing; product development took a huge back seat to that. I'd go so far as to say product "development" was only grudgingly undertaken as a means to keep the public interested thus enabling the main focus- fundraising- to continue.