Financing Elio Motors Development And Production

[CompTrex]

I got a cost estimate to retrofit my Elio to electric. Drive train, battery pack, and labor: $35K

 

[RUCRAYZE]

I got a cost estimate to retrofit my Elio to electric. Drive train, battery pack, and labor: $35K

You might be able to help off-set the cost if you sell off the equipment(on EBAY, the same place large manufacturers look) you will no longer need, you know like EM is doing(lol)

 

[Ekh]

If it boils down to politicians liking the concept the ATVM will be approved without a doubt. Who could not like the Elio! I'm speculating the announcement as early as Valentines Day.

The main thing is to get it done before the current Administration gets too blocked up by legislative entanglements. This has to happen pretty soon!

 

[Rickb]

You might be able to help off-set the cost if you sell off the equipment(on EBAY, the same place large manufacturers look) you will no longer need, you know like EM is doing(lol)

I wonder if I could order the Elio without the drive train saving time and labor on taking it out.......and how would that impact the 3 year warranty? LOL

It may be worth the money to drive an Elio EV conversion into a PepBoys for service to see the expression on the techs face.

 

[JEBar]

I wonder if I could order the Elio without the drive train saving time and labor on taking it out.......and how would that impact the 3 year warranty? LOL

It may be worth the money to drive an Elio EV conversion into a PepBoys for service to see the expression on the techs face.

not being one even remotely interested in buying another EV, I haven't been following the progress in the technology .... has battery technology come far enough to where one could mount enough batteries in an Elio to give it much more range than a golf cart ?

 

[Jim H]

I have been trying for nearly a year now to set the record straight on this issue as I believe there are many reservation holders who have this belief however as far as I can find EM has never actually promised ride and drive events ahead of production. Instead what EM has consistently said is that they are planning a series of ride and drive events for their reservation holders 'around the start of production'.

Here is a quote directly from EM's FAQ system and I have seen this repeated many times with slightly different wording but always essentially the same:


Note the fact that this does not specify whether this happens just before or after that first delivery happens. It also does not specify how close which is very important because we have been told that we will be expected to place our orders about two months ahead of delivery. Even if these events begin happening a month before production begins that is very likely still after several thousand early reservations holders have already had to submit their orders.

I hope EM can provide the Ride & Drive events far enough in advance to give everyone a chance to participate ahead of placing their orders however I am aware that as an early reservation holder I may not get this chance and indeed EM has never promised that this would be available to me.

GoofyOne, thanks for the clarification on this. I appreciate both your memory and your ability to track down past information. Apparently, like many others I thought one of the purposes of the Drive & Ride program was to allow perspective buyers to choose between AMT and Standard Transmissions among other things. Now that I know that this only another future "goal" it appears that those of us in the early production runs will have to make transmission decisions on Tech Releases by Elio and IAV. Those later in the production process will get the benefit of our comments.

 

[AriLea]

I got a cost estimate to retrofit my Elio to electric. Drive train, battery pack, and labor: $35K

Ouch, that would be a rip!. Try these guys instead http://www.ev-blue.com/.
In fact once I have my Elio, I'll probably talk to them, (they are here in northern AZ last I looked) to encourage them to develop a lowcost kit for the Elio.

 

[Rickb]

I recall Vassilio's comment on an interview video that there would be aproximately 25 prototype builds. The first to be sent off for tooling up the factory. The others for ride and drive events and testing. The ride and drive events scheduled specifically for the pre-order community. This indicates to me ride and drive events during testing and prior to production, not after delivery begins. The prototypes would be available and ready to roll long before production begins and the first deliveries. Why wouldn't the marketing team get them on tour?

 

[Rickb]

Ouch, that would be a rip!. Try these guys instead http://www.ev-blue.com/.
In fact once I have my Elio, I'll probably talk to them, (they are here in northern AZ last I looked) to encourage them to develop a lowcost kit for the Elio.

I found the EV kit cost to be around $6900 MSRP, not to include the battery pack, and then of course the labor factor. The cost makes no economic sense whatsoever, but onlythe fun of doing it if money is no object. Please let me know if you get an estimate from ev blue.

 

[AriLea]

not being one even remotely interested in buying another EV, I haven't been following the progress in the technology .... has battery technology come far enough to where one could mount enough batteries in an Elio to give it much more range than a golf cart ?

You can figure it would take 10kwh per hour of diving. A quote taken frm the Tesla forum about the pack cost from 2013..

'cost somewhere around $500-600/kWh (128 wh/kg ) to source new LiFePO4 cells (A123 for example) here in the U.S'

Anyway, I found you could get the motor for $500, the controller for about the same, a pack for $3k, you might need a BMS ?300? and all the other bits and pieces for $500 more, then a charger for $200, all totaled for DIY? = $5000. So I would expect Blue-EV to quote around $10k-$20k

and this would be a 12kwh pack for $3,3k (shipped) and 210lbs .
NEW 11kW/h Battery Block 182V /60Ah=http://hybridautocenter.com/HAC4/in...new-11kw-h-battery-block-182v-60ah&Itemid=605

Other Supplier links
LiFePO4 Batteries = http://www.batteryspace.com/lifepo4cellspacks.aspx
A123 Systems Li-ion battery technology - YouTube =