Elio Motors Ultra High Mileage Vehicle = 84 MPG for $6800!

Sounds like the 3-wheeled "motorcycle with a body" car to me.

 

It's been tried before in Europe after WWII.

Isetta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Messerschmitt KR175 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Messerschmitt KR200 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Heinkel Kabine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is even less than the Smart Car. Don't know how many they will sell.

 

So when you get those "Buy 3 get 1 Free" tire sale from Pep Boys, what do you do with the other tire?


iPad ? HD

 

There were only three Pep Boys, NOT four.

 

looks dangerous though, but so does the smat ca.

 

It falls under the motorcycle regulations, which in my state means a helmet, unless they get a waiver. I already get way more than 49mpg in the city. 84mpg on the highway is good advertising, but is not yet a reality....

 

Nice trike and I like the dual-front wheels. But my motorcycle days passed four years after meeting my wife. So I'll just have to be content with our five seat, hatchback, tow receiver equipped 2010 Prius:

NOTE: driving stunt in July 2013.


My other project is a side-by-side, two seater:

• 530 miles@140 mph
• 606 miles@120 mph.

Bob Wilson

 

Meh, 0 to 6 in 9.6 seconds? My Prius can beat that.

SCH-I535

 

I have my reservation in for an Elio. It is basically a Can-Am with a car body. It will make a good 4th car for my son to drive, or possibly me for work if my son swipes one of my Prii ahead of me. Here in Ohio it is currently classified as a motorcycle because it has 3 wheels. Ohio does not have a mandatory helmet law, so that isn't a problem here.

Bill the Engineer

 

And me

We tried such cars in Europe decades ago. Sure you get good mpg's out of them, but at a cost! (safety, style, your self esteem?)

In 1958 the car below was probably futuristic, stylish and economical but 3 wheelers are a motoring backwater.



But it followed on from a Morgan of the 1930's;



They then tried to put two wheels at the back instead.


No 3 wheeler has ever sold more than a handful. The Robin Reliant above was probably about as successful as they ever got.

Hate to rain on their parade but we've had more expensive petrol than you for ever and have tried every way of using less of it. The 3 wheeler has been tried and tried in the past and always fails. Sorry

 

The Elio will likely be classified as a motorcycle in the state of Maryland and you'll need a motorcycle's license to drive it Maryland - unless you lobby the state for a special exception. You'll need a helmet and so will your passenger if you have one. The Elio is a very nice motorcycle but Maryland doesn't have any exceptions to the rule for three wheeled vehicles.

The Elio has no rear window and no rear view mirror - the standard model has side mirrors or you can look out the windows but since the Elio is so narrow the rear view not covered by the side mirrors is very small....you can get a rear view video camera too. The safety weakness in the Elio design is during a side swiping /corner impact where only one of the front wheels are hit/torn off - the main body will likely spin out of control and the driver safety cage and seatbelt will be key to keeping the driver alive.
Having two wheels up front helps keep the Elio stable and on the ground at higher speeds when turning but it also increases its turning radius at lower speeds.

Pepboys have pretty reasonable rates so the Elio's maintenance should hopefully be reasonable or very low. I read Elio Motors is about to start their first production run for the people who have put down a deposit for one - the Public Relations News items is in hopes to increase the initial sales and keep that production line going.

I'm not likely to buy an Elio since I'm getting old (my 2010 Prius is likely to be last motor vehicle that I will be able to drive) and the Elio is for young people.

 

That probably depends on where you are and who is doing the "classifying".
The article I saw indicated that it probably would be considered a motorcycle.......but I thought that might not be right.

 

It's going to be classified as a motorcycle until and unless somebody changes a bunch a state motor vehicle laws....and I'm betting that nice companies like Toyota and GM might have something to say about that.

(copied from one of the other Elio threads....)
Somebody is pumping a BUTT-TON of money into this 3/4 of a car, so there must be some perceived demand and a perceived ability to deliver the product.

Me?
I have a three-mile commute, and I already have a M/C license. The Elio is actually cheaper than the last two motorcycles that I've bought and significantly more efficient than either if the promise it true.
There are some compelling reasons to look at an Elio as a form of transportation, but my CFO gave me that certain look that suggested that it's more toy than transport even if you could walk up and actually touch a real Elio in a real Elio dealership. Women are typically MUCH more practical about personal transportation than we men are, so it will be both interesting and informative to see how soccer moms react to this not-quite-a-car.

Technically?
The Three-wheeler is a motorcycle.
That means that it has many motorcycle-like benefits (HOV lane access for the working poor, for example.)
That also means that it has many motorcycle-like disadvantages....like perceived sub-par safety, piteously small cargo and tow ratings.

It's also a very VERY low slung vehicle, which means that visibility will be a huge factor....both ways. On my M/C, I can at least see around me even if I'm invisible to the dull-witted, distracted car and truck drivers.

We'll see.
Jay Leno will probably be an early adopter.
So will some M/C riders and some hypercommuters on a budget.
Probably some college guys with cinder blocks under their mattresses as well.

It will be interesting to watch!

 

Well THIS might cause Calif. to re-think their lane splitting policy.
Come to think of it, I wonder how they treat the current 3-wheeled motorcycles in that respect ??

What "technical" specs. exactly do you think excludes it from being classified as a "car" ?
I'm not arguing; genuinely curious.

 

In the US this is a motorcycle. It therefore has easier emissions and safety requirements. Verious states may require aditional driver training, but most will allow a class c drivers license for the beast.

If cars only had the safety and emissions requirements of motorcycles less expensive and more efficient cars would be available. 3 wheels does increase efficiency (lower weight, lower rolling resistance, likely lower cdA, but that could be done in a 4 wheel design if we could reduce safety requirements. I can't imagine this is as safe as an inexpensive car like the versa or fit.

Don't understand california hov access, but they can easily make them green/white stickers, car pools, and 2 wheel vehicles. Since most hov lanes in california are on the left, requiring moving accross all those lanes of traffic, I would think that you allow 2 wheel motorcycles to ride the line between lanes, instead of have them cut accross and get hit by inattentive motorists.

 

Lane splitting has nothing to do with HOV lanes.
It is not specifically allowed.......but is not specifically prohibited either.......so the current policy is "as long as it's done in a safe manner".
And I would think that this would NOT apply to a "motorcycle" with more than 2 wheels because of the much wider profile.

 

Yep, and those rules seem like common sense. The HOV motorcycle laws in some places seemed to make things less safe for the motorcycle riders. I don't see any reason to let 3 wheel motorcycles use HOV or to lane split.

 

Mopeds, a cheap unlicensed choice for young drivers, often result in high death rates.

The same goes for motorcycles.

Organ recovery is a boon to hospitals looking for organs to transplant, especially in states without helmet laws, like South Carolina.