Interest in Elio's $7300 84mpg Car?

It is a motorcycle, but an enclosed one. In part because of Elio, and also because some states allow motorcycle riders to not use a helmet, the only state in which an adult would need a helmet is West Virginia. BMW has/had a semi-enclosed maxiscooter in Europe. It didn't require a helmet because BMW was able to show that the weight of one would increase neck injuries when used with the scooter's seat belts. Can't recall if the BMW did, but the Elio incorporates airbags.

I would like to see this concept succeed, but it isn't likely with a start up. An economical vehicle requires sales volume, which is a hard step for a new comer, and why Tesla started high end. The automatic option already pushes the Elio over the $8000 mark, and they will have to increase the price for units past meeting the reservation holders, because they won't meet the volume needed for the lower prices.

The Can-Am Spyder is $17k predelivery, but the Spark and Versa are $12k to $13k. Even with the same acceleration as those cars, the Elio will be more fun to drive by virtue of agility and the driver sitting lower to the ground. I fear most looking for cheap, secondary transport will pass on that and better fuel economy for more seats and cargo space in the cars.

When gas was up at $4 a gallon, the Elio had a shot. The best we can hope for now is Elio getting trikes to those with a deposit with enough positive publicity that the likes of Can-Am will look into offering something similar or buying Elio out.

To do that you need to make the public transit useful and appealing enough to attract those that already can afford nice, new cars.

 

i preferred the original.

agree with upgrading public transit, but to go along with young people driving less, i believe they are using public transit more too. around here, it's overtaxed and we need more.

 

Don't you have four wheel 'motorcycles' now?

The places in which I've heard that lane splitting was legal was in the case of heavy traffic. This lets the motorcycles get off quicker ease some congestion, but the bikes surely weren't allowed to go the posted speed limits in those cases.

But are young people driving less because they don't want a car, or because they can't afford one with their student loans?

 

who can say for sure. i can only go by my thirty somethings and their friends. uber and etc. is very popular too. i don't know many with huge debt like the media likes to portray. the ones that do have good jobs and manage just fine. i will say, it takes longer to get out on your own than it used to.

 

Elio is vaporware until they can prove otherwise to me. My son and I put down a $100 deposit to get in line two years ago and got what turns out to be a very expensive tee-shirt and bumper sticker. I won't put another penny on one unless and until they prove to me it isn't just a shell game and actually produce something.

BTW, they never responded to my offer of engineering expertise, nor my inquiry about purchasing parts in advance of the vehicle introduction. There is no "there" there.

Using Elio's own website calculator, my calculated ANNUAL savings by driving an Elio vs. my 2010 Prius would be about $53.00 USD.

Bill the Engineer

 

In Germany , motorcycles expect and are expected to drive between the lanes , and the drivers there are both consistently trained and law-abiding enough to make that practice relatively safe.
Illegal in some states here, but more importantly the typically ill-trained, inattentive and undisciplined drivers in the US would make driving between the lanes quite dangerous here IMO as the danger of being "doored" or intentionally blocked would be unacceptably high.

Agree that it is hard to see how this vehicle could be produced for less than the price of the 3-wheel motorcycles I currently see on the road, which is a fair standard as it essentially the same type of vehicle,

 

The Elio has an expected 0 to 60 mph time of around the Prius. The Can-Am Spyder has one of half that. The T-Rex Trike, a side by side two seater with roll cage, is at least as fast as the Spyder. It starts at $58k. There is more than production costs going into those performance trike's prices.

Motorcycle sales are a spec compared to cars'. The first quarter of this year sold 11 to 12 thousand on road bikes. That's all the models, including these trikes. For the Elio to keep prices low, they need to sell in at least the range of a niche car. The successful niche cars are performance ones like those trikes.

So even if Elio makes and ships trikes to fill these reservations, they still might fail by not selling enough to make a profit.

 

The best I can tell, 'illegal in some states here' = 49 states.

It would also require abolition of a traditional and important part of traffic safety protocol that has been taught to many car drivers over the generations: each vehicle is entitled to the full width of its lane. Anyone passing it must use a separate clear lane to do so. This has been especially important to motorcycles -- a car passing a motorcycle is forbidden to crowd the cyclist's lane, but must be entirely in a separate lane.

This means that lane-splitting cyclists are also at risk of collisions with cars dodging road debris or potholes or rough pavement. Those car drivers have never been trained to beware of someone else alongside them in the same lane.

I do report commercial trucks that are too lazy to complete their lane change before overtaking me on the freeway.

 

And I don't have a problem with public transportation. Bus, Subway, Light Rail, it's needed and used by a diverse population. In congested urban environments it's a necessity.

But I notice your profile say's...2012 Prius Plug In...NOT---No Vehicle-Public Transportation.

I'd like the reality or opportunity to exist for people to perhaps own personal transportation as WE BOTH DO, and make usage of public transportation a situational choice.

PS.
LOL!
I would say your relaxing, nearly idealistic portrait of taking Public Transportation doesn't jive with the majority of my experience.
Usually, it's hot, crowded, sweaty and you're crammed in with a guy with a cranial scar who is muttering to himself about some violent war experience.
Personal Transportation is a luxury, and arguably does use more resources in it's infrastructural support. BUT....give me the choice...and I'm hopping in my car. Sorry Planet Earth....

 

i'm sure you can get a decent 4 wheel used car for $9,000.

 

True, ...but the whole point, is I wish there was a new, warrantied option.
I know too many people, that end up buying "questionable" used cars...then end up nearly making car payments in what it takes to maintain the vehicles.
Going back to my original statement, which is that I think if you could offer this demographic a under $9000 "new" vehicle that could be used as reliable utilitarian transportation it would have a market.

But yes, less expensive used car options do exist.
And really, as far as the 3 wheeled Elio?

Well...for anyone...I'll believe it when I see it.