Leaf, Electra Meccanica

Leaf, Electra Meccanica
8.64 kWh lithium-ion battery,rear mounted motor 100 mi (160 km) of range, charging takes between three and six hours 0-62 mph (100 km/h) in eight seconds, top speed of 75 mph (120 km/h)...Elio 2.0?

>The company is accepting CAD 250 (US$196) deposits towards an anticipated CAD 19,888 (US$15,624) pricetag.

And of course with 2 employees and a drawing in hand they have skipped to the part where they take customer money for pre-orders. After Elio this is becoming something like the South Park underpants gnomes would come up with. Phase 1: Announce product, Phase 2: take preorders, Phase 3: Profit Elio spent 6 years and $70 million or so to build 5 very rough prototypes and they IPO'd with a $600 million dollar market cap and they will likely never actually launch a product. At this point I'm wondering if I can't just hire a 2 people on fiver to build me a quick website and draw up a prototype so I can launch my own 3 wheeled car company and take preorders too.

Daishi

fucking canada

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The Solo weighs around 992 lb (450 kg).
It measures 120 in (3.04 m) from tip-to-tail, and is just 47.6 in (1.21 m) wide at the front wheels, which makes it 40 in (1.05 m) shorter and 19.2 in (0.5 m) narrower than the Elio Motors three-wheeler.

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Ah but I see a difference from the Elio straight away.
1: They're not making outrageous claims about fuel economy
2: They haven't announced an engine

The Elio made 70-80 MPG claims while using a 1.0L 3 cylinder LITERALLY taken from a 1990's Geo Metro in a junkyard. THAT alone is why I refused to believe anything would come of the Elio.

Using an electric motor makes this more believable. However, I still don't think they can bring an electric car to market for that price. 20k US, maybe. But this is still far more believable than the abortion of the Elio.

This brings up my biggest complaint about the wannabe 3 wheeler production cars. I understand that it's more efficient and therefore increased fuel economy and range, but why not just keep the width of the vehicle at the doors straight back for actually usable luggage space?

Was gonna ask if some user would shop that pic so it looked like a normal car.

>but why not just keep the width of the vehicle at the doors straight back for actually usable luggage space?
because it isn't the 3 wheel design that makes it more efficient, its the narrower design for efficiency that makes 3 wheels more viable.

Nothing will come of this because the people who usually come up with these have no passion for cars whatsoever.

This is why you will see a bunch of kit car manufacturers pop up overnight but high MPG cars from people who are smart in their own right but know nothing about cars flop.

Reminds me of that 3D printed car.


If the guys behind Elio actually liked cars it wouldn't have taken 70 mil, it would've taken a few hundred grand for the most.

ill just have the elio thanks

cycle cars are better anyway
and bubble/micro cars look cooler
and trailing aerodynamics are more important than leading edge
>If the guys behind Elio actually liked cars it wouldn't have taken 70 mil, it would've taken a few hundred grand for the most.
more like a tube frame welded up over three weekends in a tin shack
with the engine from a weed wackier and a lawn chair seat

That would've started the design, but to flesh it out into something marketable and crash safe wouldn't have passed the 100k mark.

Pic related, doesn't even need donor parts other than an engine and transmission. Didn't take long for the guy to come up with it, nor alot of money.

>flesh it out into something marketable and crash safe wouldn't have passed the 100k mark.
fussy customers and ball busting regulations are holding smaller cars back
that and having to compete with cheep second hand cars (not for long with things like cash for clunkers/carb)

It's 3 wheel because it only has to then pass motorcycle design rules

lager v8 cycle car that uses motorcycle wheels

It can still be done with less than 100k if the right company got the bright idea.

After that some seed money for a place and to make tooling (won't take alot, just a jig and some plugs for body panels) and they have a car company.

Gotta remember that when they talk R&D costs they're also adding in things like marketing efforts and team member salaries. Sure the material cost of a first prototype would be minimal assuming that someone with some skill in building cars and welding was involved, but if it takes 2 years to build the prototype then it's 100k just in that person's salary value.

No, that's Raw Material and manhours.

It honestly does not take much to make a tube frame carve out the plugs and lay fiberglass and resin if you know what you want to make. Especially now with stuff like Solidworks and CAD

ffs ive dealt with this shit.

>be me
>working at a quick lube place
>silver dick mobile drives up
>lanky ass bald white dude comes crawling out
>hands us these pamphlets for their solo jerk cars
>a couple weeks later
>leaving the bar with a bud
>sees a group taking pics and laughing
>walk up
>its the fucking silver cock'n'balls

like this shit is garbage, its a joke i swear, they are dumping money into the bin with this shit
they think they're gana make bank from this shit but whoever is projecting that they are going to be making profit from this should be gunned down

like FOR REAL its $20K
WHO IS THAT DUMB
140km top speed? eh....
140km range....? uhuh...
it takes 1 hour for a 25% CHARGE?!

SO, IF I GO TOP SPEED FOR AN HOUR I NEED TO WAIT FOUR FUCKING HOURS TILL I CAN GO AGAIN?!
this is shit, dont buy this crap