Jump to content

Elio Motors


MightyMike

Recommended Posts

I followed the rise and fall of the Corbin Sparrow and Aptera. The founder of Aptera (Steve Fambro) is an acquaintance of mine. I think Elio has a good chance if they avoid management problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I gave them $100 quite some time ago... it's moving farther than others that have tried. I have a 70 mile commute so 84gpm (or anything close to that) would be great, along with that price. Just hope turning on the A/C doesn't reduce it to 35mpg;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My wife seriously wants one but won't put any cash down until test driving one. I think their financing plan is brilliant, but they have to raise more money to fund it. Well, OK, there are a few holes in the idea, but if they can pull it off, they win big.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...
Elio has a video out testing their
. It sounds pretty sporty for a 50hp .9L 3 cylinder engine.

 

I ride an 85 HP 600 cc 4-cyl Honda motorcycle, and a 100 HP 675 cc Triumph triple. The triple sounds waaay better. And 3 cyl engines are better balanced than I-4s. Hey, I like triples, but certainly wouldn't put one in a se7en. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had the 955cc Triumph Daytona triple... great bike (great sounding too). Hard to imagine it pushing the Elio and getting more than twice the mileage I was getting on 2 wheels (though the way I rode it had a lot to do with that)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Making this old fart smile...

Tucked away in the back of my shop.....

'74 850 Dunstall Norton Commando, just add fuel, a battery, kick and go.

Not as ready, but there is also a '75 T160 Triumph Trident.

 

So yup, I am familiar with the sounds of which you speak!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hard to imagine it pushing the Elio and getting more than twice the mileage I was getting on 2 wheels (though the way I rode it had a lot to do with that)

 

If you take the same identical car with 2 engine options, the lower power engine will get the car better gas mileage. Certainly not because the smaller engine is more efficient; it's not. The lower power engine will run at greater % throttle to develop the same power. This means the throttle plate is relatively more open for the smaller engine. Power is consumed by pumping intake gas through the flow restriction of the throttle plates, and therefore demand more power from the bigger engine.

 

In the case of your motorcycle, the throttle plates are almost closed and lots of gasoline is being burned to provide that pumping power that the low horsepower Elio doesn't need. This is one of the reasons why Diesels get better mileage - no throttle.

 

The tradeoff of course is acceleration ability. Also, the aerodynamic drag on the Elio is less. Not many vehicles out there that have worse drag coefficients than a motorcycle...................... maybe a 7. :)

 

OK, I'll stop being uber-nerd now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm keeping an eye on Elio. I like the concept, price and marketing. I was tempted to do a deposit. I just think they are to short on funding to get into production. Maybe if all the back benchers like me would put money down they could gain support or backing. They have about 40k reservations last I saw. If it were 100k reservations it might make a difference. I also think the finance plan is really ingenious. Time will tell.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...