No, not the Elio. For all of their mistakes, I have to stick up for them on this point. They designed the car to pass all standard safety regulations and to have a full suite of airbags. They did the smart thing here, as the Elio was intended to get 5 stars on every safety test, since they knew that buyers would consider such a small car to be “unsafe” and that insurance companies might balk at insuring them.
They did not use 3 wheels to skirt safety laws, but instead thought that it would save money on manufacturing and materials while maximizing efficiency, allowing a simpler drive system and smaller, more aerodynamic body.
One problem was that they then had to go around the country convincing state legislators to re-classify the Elio from a motorcycle to a car. Then they realized the need to also include a “skateboard” roller assembly so that people could drive the Elio over oil change bays :person_facepalming: . Mechanics’ lifts were/are still a problem.
They did use off-the-shelf parts for everything they could, but then elected to design a new engine from scratch, which simply wasn’t financially feasible. Observers eventually realized that it would have been simpler and cheaper to just build a small, 4-wheel car (the company likely did, too, but hasn’t admitted it). I still hope that we get something like the Elio someday, as the economics of a truly inexpensive commuter vehicle are better than any Tesla, provided it avoids luxury features.
They also initially promised an 84MPG car for US$5,959, a combination which they could not possibly deliver. The price was later increased to $7,450, but that’s also unrealistic.
The company announced that 100 pre-production cars would be produced in 2019. In 2017, Elio Motors was reportedly more than $50 million in debt with an estimated $300+ million needed to reach production. I won’t take those odds.
Yes, but many posters immediately made fun of the “stupid” electric car for running out of battery like some sort of toy. It was a funny story, but it was then used to bash not only electric vehicles, but the ideas behind those vehicles, including unsaid “political” ideas. I totally accept that electric vehicles don’t solve our problems, but I also see no reason to unfairly make fun of them or use them as examples of “today’s stupidity.”
Twice as efficient for moving a 200lb. human being. A standard car uses 1% of its energy to move the human driver, while an old Toyota Prius uses 2% of its energy to move the human driver. Thus, twice the efficiency. That doesn’t equal twice the MPG, because the car is still wasting most of its energy through heat generation and moving 3,000lbs of steel around.
I’m not going to argue the math as I already went through all of that 15 years ago or something, so it’s fine if people don’t believe me. It doesn’t even matter, since occupant-mile/gallon is the relevant metric. Yes, it’s disappointing that the mileage has declined over time, but I guess, like most cars, the Prius has gotten fatter and more powerful. I think today the smarter choice might be the Camry Hybrid as it gets pretty much identical mileage as the Prius. I would like to recommend hybrids from other manufacturers, but most of those are SUV’s and thus are inherently less efficient than a car.
My point was that hybrid cars can have excellent payback and are more ecologically friendly than electric cars right now. In fact, we could make many more hybrid cars (and trucks?) than Tesla electric ones with today’s limited supply of li-ion batteries and this would save far more energy than spending all of those batteries on Teslas. Any tax rebates should prioritize hybrids over electrics so long as batteries and battery materials are limited commodities.
Hmmm. I scanned the thread before my last post and saw page after page of posts that were definitely political in nature. Some even called people stupid for wanting to improve energy efficiency or reduce ecological impact. Those posts and accusations were deeply “political” and it’s the elephant in the room for the entire thread.
I was relaying my personal experience that MY family and friends definitely avoid certain products because of their beliefs, so it certainly seemed an appropriate comment. What I said is absolutely true where I live. You can even get fired from your job here if you say something unflattering about Coal; good luck winning a jury trial if you sue. I would not own a Tesla here, because it would likely get keyed, or worse. The irony is that the Tesla burns coal :person_facepalming: .
I hopefully deleted the objectionable content from the prior post.
Note that I don’t really want to own a Tesla, anyway, since the things seem to need an Internet connection just to boot up. A Tesla is not a car; it’s a computer with wheels. I do agree with many of the sentiments expressed in this thread, but did not agree with the general assessment that it was ridiculous to use a Tesla as a police car.
I prefer older cars with stick-shift transmissions. I have zero intention of ever owning a car with an automatic transmission, yet most cars today don’t offer a manual transmission! They come with either a CVT or a 43-speed automatic (yes, an exaggeration). I actually like CVT’s and have been promoting them since the mid-90’s when they became rugged enough for production cars, but I don’t want one . I’m a geek and control freak, so I want to control the transmission, thank you very much.
I don’t want a video screen in the dash, either, but every vehicle on the market now has one. I don’t mind having a computer control the engine as that offers some real benefits in engine management and efficiency, but I want to drive, not be driven.
And while I’m at it, I think I’ll gripe about the fact that car manufacturers no longer bother putting proper high-low climate modes into cars, apparently because consumers have grown too stupid to use them. We did science in the the 1950’s and 60’s and found that human beings are most comfortable with warm feet and a cool head and thus American and Japanese cars had wonderful high-low modes for decades, yet “mix” modes in new cars just blow the same temperature air out of the “foot” and “face” vents . That’s not progress.