UPDATE: The end of the year is drawing nigh, and the Shreveport “factory” still sits empty.
I’ve been kind of following this along… there’s been some approval for the “trimobile” classification of vehicle, so people don’t have to have motorcycle driver’s licenses to drive these. He still doesn’t have enough money or a working motor yet, and no updates on whether it has to pass car emissions or crash safety tests.
We’ve had several tricycle try to start-em-ups here in Eugene:
The not yet now and possibly never Arcimoto and the more interesting and now defunct Gizmo.
Anyone still believing in this?
Late November: Latest prototype and official press release at LA Auto Show, but this flies in the face of a earlier disastrous news-
Now, I’ve search the internet for news about investors throwing money down the Elio money pit between that depressing press release and their prototype release at the LA Auto Show, but I can’t find anything. The don’t even have a place to make the contraption, but they’re still taking $7000 pre-orders. WTF?
It’s definitely a unicorn. They’ll declare bankruptcy soon and anyone who put money down on it will be shit out of luck.
Even if they did put out some units, nothing I’ve read gave me any confidence in the company as far as future service/parts/warranty coverage is concerned.
What’s you point? Lots of companies have produced 3 wheelers. Elio seems to be offering more features than what others have.
Elio also appears to be hemorrhaging money and they haven’t sold a single one. Morgan is an established company though not exactly what I would call mainstream. Their 3 wheelers are pretty neat looking but offer no weather protection from what I see.
I wonder if any of the 65 thousand plus people mentioned on their website as having prepaid for this electric tricycle have gotten their “free” t-shirts yet?
edited to add: If I had one of those t-shirts, I would have “I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS, TOO” printed on the back.
I guess that nobody knew that starting a car company would be so difficult.
That’s too bad. I followed them for a while on FB. I always hoped they’d get going. I thought it seemed like it would fit a decent sized niche. I could have seen myself driving one.
My bold. It was to have been powered by a plain old internal combustion engine (cite).
My apologies-you are right.
edited to add: Here are the stats pulled from [del]their asses[/del] their website-
Fuel-injected, SOHC gas-powered, Variable Valve Lift, 3 cyl., .9 liter, liquid-cooled, automotive engine
Front Engine / Front-Wheel Drive
8-Gallon Tank / Targeted 84 MPG (Highway)
Standard 5-speed manual or optional automatic manual transmission (AMT)
Parking brake
Top speed over 100 MPH
0-60 speed in projected 10.8 seconds
55 HP and 55 LB-FT of torque
Traction Control, Stability Control
12:1 Compression
Regular Unleaded Fuel
The Brooklyn Bridge(not really, but it’s just as liable as any other stat on this list).
From the article:
But he said they’ll be ready to start production in 2018. Sure, sounds reasonable!
He needs to partner up with someone who really know how to raise money without a finished product to show for it, like maybe Chris Roberts of Star Citizen infamy?
Arcimoto looks like they’re closer to actual delivery of a three-wheeled electric. They’ve sold some of the pilot models and have started larger-scale production this year, with expected delivery starting toward the end of the year. I’ll believe it when I see it, but still worth watching if you’re in the market.
That looks like it could only be useful in southern climes.
Their development and most of the testing has been in Oregon - it’s not Minnesota, but it’s not exactly Los Angeles either. The car has removable siding as an option, and has a heater and defroster, so you can stay warm in it. However, heaters suck up juice in an electric and battery performance drops in cold weather, so it might be challenging for longer commutes up north.
Or so expensive.
Another Update: Elio Motors is still in the running…for longcon of the decade, that is. It seems that Overstock dot com has given them $2.5 million(in cryptocurrency), so the new, new, new projected start date is in 76 weeks, plus a few weeks. :rolleyes:
I am raising this from the dead, because I’ve always been interesting in watching the very (very!) slow motion trainwreck of Elio Motors and the arguments of it being anything from ambitious to rubbish, to vaporware, to out and out scam.
So after quite literally not updating their own website for several years back in 2019 (which even THEN was nothing more then than various flavors of “We are great” and “We’re still delayed” and “We need more money.”) that they are once again claiming they’ll actually have a vehicle . . . just the new twist is that it’ll be all electric AND cost more than twice what the original promised price was. A summary article follows -
I chose to rezz the old zombie rather than create a new thread because for people not familiar with Elio, it provides a lot of links and context. So pardon me . . . wait, no … no . . . NO don’t eat my brains!!! Back you foul beast!