He did need them. It's window dressing. The pharm and bio med startups do this all of the time. They need a team and a BoD. When you are getting interest from investors, they want to see that. It gives clout and shows legitimacy.
How that works out in the real world is debatable. I find that it's not the best way to go and it's better to build the business first. There are many companies that are huge and run by one person and then a limited team. Typically, they were not in the business of courting the general public investors. When you need those general public investors, they never go to your facility and see what you do, they read the PR sheet and if it's stock, or big investors, they want to see the financials.
Yes, Elio had a team and a BoD but in general it was more on the marketing as opposed to the technical. Thus weak on the technical makes it hard for the marketing people to do a proper job. Seeing how the BoD were not getting paid, it was more or less a thing like this. Stu had the goods (building and equipment) and Elio could supply the stock in a move that if it took off, Stu made lots of money. Stu being smart, made sure that he was covered in case that it all went belly up. That's called good business. Plus, how many people would have given Elio Motors a non refundable deposit if the company didn't have a plant or any equipment? That had to weigh in a bit when it came to your decision making process. Maybe not you personally but I bet lots of them, it was. Elio did start the reservations after they got the plant and heavily marketed it.
There's not a single person that want's Stu to pull the trigger and run Elio Motors into bankruptcy. It doesn't help anyone at all. So, he needs to be commended for not doing that and having 58K irritated because their dream has been crushed. If Elio needs more time, let's hope Stu allows it. If he does, he's someone that everyone will appreciate when they are having fun in their Elio.