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120 Mpg Elio? Parts Availabe Online...

Umaxen

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This car will do VERY well for obvious reasons. It's safe (so we are told) and gas prices are high. I will guess that gas prices will remain where they are or get higher over the next few years. At around 90 mpg, the Elio will find an instant market. If Elio Motors decides to spend a few million dollars on aftermarket parts assessments and improvements, they could theoretically build a turbocharged, low rpm engine which could move Elio along at freeway speeds at around 2000 pm. This could improve Elio's mileage by AT LEAST 30% since the current engine with 5 speed will probably be turning at around 20mph per 1000 rpm. In other words, the Elio will be at around 3000 rpm at 60mph. All efficient, modern cars are geared at around 30mph per 1000 rpm or around 30% less that the Elio. Granted the Elio's engine is only 1 liter, yet could still benefit GREATLY from a lower rpm at freeway speeds. The turbo system could increase Elio's torque at low rpm, allowing it to run a 30/1000 rpm and assist in obtaining around 120 mpg. I bet there are kids working on this modification as I type. I give it ONE MONTH after initial release of this car before someone in their garage straps on a turbo and switches out the engine output and transmission input gears in order to lower freeway cruising rpm's. Are these parts easy to obtain? They've been available online for the past 20 years...
 

satx

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"gas prices are high. I will guess that gas prices will remain where they are or get higher over the next few years"

LOL

will definitely get higher, but it sounds like they'll be low for a couple or more years. Bad luck for Elio's 84 mpg angle.
 

JEBar

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it has been noted that Elio's motor is being developed with adding a turbo in mind .... I have no clue as to the viability of adding one after production but, at this point, I suspect that doing so could impact the OEM engine warranty .... I have next to no interest in moving the top speed from 100 to 120 but I do like the idea of allowing the engine to perform well at lower rpm's

Jim
 

Kronos

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Its been mentioned from several sources, including VP Jerome, that the engine is being designed for 1,500-2,000 RPM at highway speeds (65 mph?). As such, I don't think you'll find that added 50%! increase in fuel efficiency by simply bolting on a turbo, or any other thing for that matter. If it were so simple, and cost effective, I'm pretty sure they'd already be doing that.

On the other hand, perhaps using a turbo and several other more advanced technologies, along with more modifications to the overall design, the Elio would be capable of surpassing 100 mpg? But being cost effective is pretty important: How long would those extra technologies take to pay off by their added fuel efficiency? And would they be more expensive to maintain?
 
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Joseph Kidd

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Interesting thoughts here. Are we forgetting that the national highway speed has increased? If you drive at 65 mph in most states on the highway then you might get run over. 75 mph (because nobody drives the speed limit either) seems more realistic. I think Umaxen is right that at lower rpm's the Elio engine will benefit from a turbo.
 

goofyone

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Keep in mind that with a long stroke/small-bore the Elio engine is actually being designed with low end torque in mind and uses its dual stage lift/timing system to then achieve fuel efficiency once up to speed. With this kind of engine design a more advanced variable valve timing system and/or dual cam head are actually what would be the most beneficial at optimizing fuel efficiency across the power band. EM is trying not to use those types of systems because they are more expensive.

In this car a turbo engine would provide more power but not more fuel efficiency. Remember all a turbo does is force more air into the engine so you can burn more fuel. However in an engine already designed specifically to provide the low end power EM needs adding a turbo actually hurts any fuel efficiency goals.

There are a number of ways EM could likely build a vehicle which would be rated in excess of 100 MPG however these options add cost which would make the vehicle more expensive and hurt EM's other goals. Many of these options may not even pay for themselves as with a vehicle as fuel efficient as the Elio fuel efficiency gains can be costly compared to how much money they would actually save.
 
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Kronos

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Interesting thoughts here. Are we forgetting that the national highway speed has increased? If you drive at 65 mph in most states on the highway then you might get run over. 75 mph (because nobody drives the speed limit either) seems more realistic. I think Umaxen is right that at lower rpm's the Elio engine will benefit from a turbo.

I believe that the Elio may very well get better mpg if a turbo is being used, but I highly doubt you'd see anywhere near a 50% increase in fuel efficiency. The engine is already being tuned for low RPM torque, and is going to use a relatively high compression ratio of 10:1 or 11:1 using regular gasoline if I remember correctly. At what point are you going to have to switch to using higher octane fuel, thus negating some of that added fuel efficiency? I legitimately don't know, but I suspect it won't be very cheap or easy.

Every additional mpg the Elio can achieve becomes more difficult than the last, so to anticipate such a drastic increase seems very optimistic to me. But I'll leave it to the engineers to figure it out, I guess. Hopefully I'm wrong. I'd be very interested in hypermiling and pushing the technology just to see how far the Elio can go :) It's no doubt a great platform for experimenting with all sorts of efficiency-enhancing technologies.
 
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