Elio Motors: $6800 car, 84 mpg
eliomotors.com
eliomotors.com
So that means that it would take three years for somebody to break even and start saving cash on gas if you decide to go with the Elio instead of a used car.
So whether this concept will sell or not depends in part on whether the customers will view it as a long term investment or a short term fix until they are better off financially.
And I really don't buy their second commuter-only-car pitch. Somebody who can afford a new $20K vehicle can also afford the $700 (they claim $800 in gas per year) yearly penalty on gas, so the only people I see being attracted by this concept are people short on money which probably drive used cars.
After that bought a 2001 Hyundai Accent for $1000, with 96k miles on it. Drove that thing until it had 136k at which point it started having some issues that would be expensive to fix. Sold that after owning it for 3.5 years for $900. I put about 4k into it, including oil changes, AC charges, and various other bits of maintenance (timing belt was expensive). I don't think I did too bad.
Both cars were bought in Phoenix, AZ, the Kia was sold there too, the Hyundai I sold in Denver, CO since I had moved there.
The Hyundai got fantastic gas mileage at about 30 Mpg with city/highway driving (about 50:50 mix). The Kia a little less at 28 mpg.
Both the Kia and the Hyundai were reliable for the time period that I had the car. Had I put some more time into the Hyundai it would probably have kept going without issues, I just was in the position with work and my finances to be able to go and purchase a car rather than continue putting money into a car.
Sure it had some irrelevant body flaws (bumper paint was flaking a bit and there were some dings on the panels, nothing larger than the size of a half-dollar) but for $1300 and 26-28mpg, not a bad deal at all!
Just scour Craigslist and local (physical) boards.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/user/eliomotors
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcar
I found this piece that discusses their financial viability. http://cleantechnica.com/2013/08/19/paul-elio-motors-release...
If you ask people who are driving a Honda City as to whether they will buy a Nano. The answer is obviously no.
Either way Maruthi Suzuki 800 variants like Alto, WagonR et al. Are pretty good low segment vehicles.
And for Indian roads, traffic and wear and tear. Unless you have surplus money which you wish to waste. Its nonsense to buy an expensive car(For daily uses at least).
If Honda made a semi-enclosed three wheeler for the "damn it I'm riding no matter the weather" audience, they would have a chance. They could also sell it for at least $10k and still sell a lot of them. The Elio is a solution to no particular problem.
Besides used cars are still 'used' cars. And its not just engine running 200-250K miles. By 100K miles the juice from the engine is gone. It can still run an additional 150K miles, may be. But for a very different definition of 'run'.
And you still have to drive some one else's used car, for mileage no where close to Elio. Plus all other wear and tear hassles of an old car.
Here you get a brand new one for a decent price which can run for the next 2 years. And for 6.8K dollars its a super cheap investment to make.
looking for web development help?
https://web.archive.org/web/20131108025621/http://www.eliomo...
It's nice, but if someone slightly bumps into you, you're dead :/
Not saying that such a vehicle don't have its place. Though i have hard time imagining it. If not highway - than cities - European cities are well populated either by small 4-wheel cars or just scooters. Doesn't seem like there is niche for car size 3 wheeler without full benefits of a car.
There is probably a reason that this vehicle has the single wheel in the back. While I think in principle this results in similar instability in accelerating turns as the one-in-front configuration has in braking turns, this is greatly mitigated by the fact that wheeled vehicles generally brake much more quickly than they accelerate.
To inherent instability of 3 wheelers one also need to add inherent instability at speed of low-weight small vehicle with high height to width ratio (an issue arising from aerodynamics) what 3 wheelers are. The best one can get is a T-REX like (http://www.campagnamotors.com/). Now, if somebody managed to sell T-REX at $7K instead of $40K+ - that would be something :)
Video also compares this against a similarly priced used car, but if you need more than one real seat for a family, this isn't it.
It's a toy for Silicon Valley.
Even on a cheap VPS I've configured it to handle tens of thousands of requests per minute.
The httpd processes push the MySQL posts table out of the OS's filesystem cache, the newly spun up processes eat up all the free memory, and you start swapping and the whole thing falls over. Turn off keepalive, set the maximum number of httpd processes to a number that leaves enough RAM for the DB and filesystem cache, and the blog would be fine.
My blog's been top of HN FP a few times. It's just apache/mysql/wordpress on the smallest Linode, sharing it with a half dozen other sites.
But yeah, like yourself, just pointing out that a Wordpress instance that can take a battering is eminently achievable.
three wheeled "car" ⇒ couldn't pass car safety requirements, legally a motorcycle
However, I think even though they don't meet the bizarre federal "safety" requirements they could still have the IIHS crash test it anyway, and hence get a star rating.
It also looks like they got AAMVA to recommend that enclosed trikes not require a motorcycle license, so that's a boon for them (sorry for the spam press release link but secondary sources were even worse): http://www.sacbee.com/2013/11/18/5923704/elio-motors-judicia... .
Number of current reservations: 4815 (As of Nov 05, 2013)
Elio is not a fling. It is not a novelty. =========================================
It is the product of a mobile society naturally evolving to a more efficient and practical form of transportation.
Let’s look at the facts and realities of the world we live in:
Gas today is at an all-time high Space is becoming a smaller and smaller commodity and we’re being crowded off our roads and bumped and dinged out of our parking lots Cars cost more than the average house did only a few decades ago Traditional personal transportation isn’t working like it used to. We need a new way of getting around.
That’s when a car enthusiast, a visionary, a man with a dream named Paul Elio got an idea. A simple, brilliant idea. To create a vehicle for today’s generation of drivers that addressed their transportation needs and the world’s new realities.
The result is Elio ===============
And it’s more than merely a fun, fuel-efficient way to get around. Elio can have a profound effect on our economy – creating approximately 1500 jobs in Louisiana alone. And we all know the ripple effect a vehicle has when you factor in everyone from the suppliers and their employees to all the other businesses that prosper from putting previously unemployed people to work.
Elio is a major step in curbing the erosion of our environment and making us far less dependent on foreign oil. Just think how that will affect the political landscape of our world!
From the economy to the environment to the national debt to foreign relations, Elio is an idea whose time has come – and that time is now!
Specs =====
84 Miles per Gallon 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.
Anticipated 5 Star Crash Test Rating 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.
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.
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 2014.
Power in Numbers An inline, 3 cylinder, .9 liter, 55 HP, fuel-injected, SOHC gas-powered, liquid-cooled, automotive engine.
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.
Only $6,800 It only costs $6,800. That’s about what you would pay for an outboard motor to power a rowboat.
Our Transmission Mission 5-speed manual or automatic. And yes, it has a reverse gear.