Shreveport Plant Operations And Personnel Questions

[goofyone]

info appreciated .... yet another question : how does the number of projected first year reservations compare to the projected number for the first year's production

Jim

That is a very good question and one I do not have an answer to.

We really have no idea and part of the problem is that we have never been given a straight answer on EM's definition of 'first year' so this could mean first calendar year of production of simply the first model year of production which could be less than a full calendar year in length.

What I can tell you is that with a single shift running at EM's projected line speed of 500 vehicles per shift it would take about 6.5 months to produce 68K vehicles. When you calculate some time to ramp up to that speed you end up with about 8-9 months to produce 68K vehicles with a single shift.

 

[JEBar]

That is a very good question and one I do not have an answer to.

We really have no idea and part of the problem is that we have never been given a straight answer on EM's definition of 'first year' so this could mean first calendar year of production of simply the first model year of production which could be less than a full calendar year in length.

your patience is most certainly appreciated .... I can understand the frustration at not having such basic information but I can understand EM's hesitation in giving it out .... in the not too distant past they have announced various goals which weren't met .... goals which some of their detractors still throw up from time to time .... unfortunately, in the absence of accurate info, rumors can take on a life of their own

Jim

 

[Jambe]

We really have no idea and part of the problem is that we have never been given a straight answer on EM's definition of 'first year' so this could mean first calendar year of production of simply the first model year of production which could be less than a full calendar year in length.

Elio Motors:Hello James, the first year of production is the first 365 days of production, so if we start in September of 2015, the first year of production will end on September 2016!

 

[goofyone]

Elio Motors:Hello James, the first year of production is the first 365 days of production, so if we start in September of 2015, the first year of production will end on September 2016!

Thanks, unfortunately you would think that helps but it just adds to the question because while several people have reported receiving that answer, several others have essentially recently received the answer "to be determined', and several more have recently received the answer that only advance reservation holders would be in the first year however this may not necessarily take up an entire calendar year.

Then you have the answer Paul Elio gave at the Town Hall which in a way actually supports all the previous answers. He said that within the first calendar year they plan to produce all the reservation holders vehicles then move into fleet vehicle production then continue into retail production. What this tells me is that the best answer is likely 'TBD' as the way appears to me is that what happens in the first calendar year just depends on how many vehicles EM actually produces combined with how many reservations are converted in sales and how many fleet vehicles are sold. Of course this also does not answer the question of what model year will be given to any fleet and any retail vehicles produced in the first year.

 

[nthawk68]

I think they picked the Sept 2015 as the production start date so they could start the 2016 models at approx the start of the normal car model year and still call it 12 months production period.... In the back of my mind, I am still expecting another 3 - 6 month delay, would that make the model a 2016 & 1/2 model, since it starts in the middle of they year, I think GM has done that a couple of times....

 

[goofyone]

your patience is most certainly appreciated .... I can understand the frustration at not having such basic information but I can understand EM's hesitation in giving it out .... in the not too distant past they have announced various goals which weren't met .... goals which some of their detractors still throw up from time to time .... unfortunately, in the absence of accurate info, rumors can take on a life of their own

Jim

Balancing openness with the realties of complex projects where design details and the project timeline are constantly in flux is an issue most public facing start-ups face. The public following along wants to know as many details as they can get however on the internet there are 'experts' on everything so any information released will be overanalyzed and second guessed many times over. If delays in the timeline occur or details need to be changed, as should be expected from complex projects, this just makes the situation even worse as mob mentality does not generally allow for these types of logical considerations.

I am certain EM feels forced to release an estimated date for production to begin however I doubt they really want to do this at all. For marketing reasons this is a date which can't be set too far in the future while at the same time they know they have to have as much cushion as possible as this date is essentially the completion date of the biggest phase of this project and is dependent on literally thousands of other details large and small.

As mentioned the absence of official information can also lead to problems with rumors. Rumors are very hard to control and to make things worse they can either be completely made up or be based, at least partially, on actually true leaks of information. I spend a lot of my time trying to sort out and confirm what rumors have some truth in them, vs what is completely unverified, vs what is EM's official position on the subject. Dealing with this is even hard for me as I have mentioned in the past that one of the most difficult things I encounter is trying to effectively communicate when I am writing based simply on my opinion versus when I am stating EM's official stance on something versus when I may have better information than what is available publicly however even that is somewhat dangerous as the information I have is not public for a reason so things could, and have, changed on me.

Over time EM has learned some lessons about all this the hard way and as a result they now take their time and try to verify things as much as possible before officially releasing anything.

 

[Anion]

While having a breakfast social and having many discussions about the Elio, I overheard that many attending were still skeptical on news that the Presidential Economic Advisers did not consider EM a viable production option and that this stance would have a detrimental effect on the ATVM loan. Has anyone heard or read about these concerns, and if so give reference for perusal.

 

[wayne kemp]

Elio's plant open for production...
[Broken External Image]

Just kidding!!

 

[Geordie97]

Hey GoofyOne....if you need any test drivers, I'm happy to volunteer! Are you going to be in Birmingham at the end of Oct?

 

[goofyone]

Hey GoofyOne....if you need any test drivers, I'm happy to volunteer! Are you going to be in Birmingham at the end of Oct?

I do plan on driving over to Birmingham for the showing. Just not sure yet what day or days I will be there as my schedule is still up in the air.