Horse Power

[BlioKart]

Switchable on demand would be nice and I would hope EM would consider that. However from what Paul Elio said when he discussed it the ECU will be encrypted as is unfortunately standard in the industry today.

It is all conceptual right now however actually fairly well thought out. In the August town hall PE told us what he wants to do is use EM software loaded onto your Android/iOS device and essentially an OBD-II dongle for the hardware interface to the vehicle. This way owners could easily do the upgrade themselves as the software would walk owners through the entire process and the upgrade could easily be locked to the vehicle VIN. Not exactly what us gearheads want to hear but from the point of view of EM's business model this is the smart way for them to handle this.

They said the Nissan GTR ecu couldn't be hacked. Yet it was done very quickly once the cars became available in JDM. sayonara 112mph speed limit

 

[Ocean9000]

Switchable on demand would be nice and I would hope EM would consider that. However from what Paul Elio said when he discussed it the ECU will be encrypted as is unfortunately standard in the industry today.

It is all conceptual right now however actually fairly well thought out. In the August town hall PE told us what he wants to do is use EM software loaded onto your Android/iOS device and essentially an OBD-II dongle for the hardware interface to the vehicle. This way owners could easily do the upgrade themselves as the software would walk owners through the entire process and the upgrade could easily be locked to the vehicle VIN. Not exactly what us gearheads want to hear but from the point of view of EM's business model this is the smart way for them to handle this.

G1 - much of that with the exception of desire for switchable-on-demand was a bit wishful, but to know the EM is considering a user upgradable firmware solution is very heartening. Certainly not an industry standard condition, but another example of a benefit to the end user solution representative of a real engineer not "proprietary mad" corporate culture. Thanks and tip of the hat to PE.

BTW, using the referenced programmable ECU is a blast!

 

[goofyone]

Encrypting the ECU is used mainly for warranty purposes as it makes it easier to detect unauthorized modification. I would like to see EM eventually use the same ECU upgrade software to give owners the ability to run the ECU un-encrypted after the warranty has expired or by opting out of warranty support. We know the ECU will be hacked as it always happens. How to do this is well understood and I doubt EM will be using anything unusual at all so the ECU will likely be cracked open pretty fast which in my opinion should be further encouragement for EM to make money from this directly instead of letting it go entirely to the aftermarket.

 

[RUCRAYZE]

I have not a clue, nor desire to know, all this tech stuff but it's like reading a foreign language, and so cool how you guys(know what you're saying to each other) discussing the details.

 

[Smitty901]

Once on the road and if the ELIO sells, any one of several companies will have a Tuner for it darn near over night. This stuff is simple now days. Look at the ones the have for motorcycle. From ones that do simple Air to fuel changes to ones that will Auto tune a total new tune with out a dyno.
The one from Power vision I use now loads a base tune then you hit the road. Stop load the new tune and ride then autotune the new one until you have what you want. pull up the data if you want to ad or remove fuel in a range do so, simple. What to adjust timing in any RPM range just punch it in. If it does not do as expected undo. Retuning the ELIO will not be a big deal.

 

[pistonboy]

This is terrible. I should not be reading what you gays are saying about modification possibilities and resulting horsepower.

The problem is, all this talk makes me want to buy a second elio I can maximize power on.

 

[RUCRAYZE]

This is terrible. I should not be reading what you gays are saying about modification possibilities and resulting horsepower.

The problem is, all this talk makes me want to buy a second elio I can maximize power on.

Please try to not identify people's sexual preference, it doesn't add to the discourse- "....what you gays are saying....." lol

 

[Smitty901]

Smitty - where (in the RPM range) you change the torque makes a big difference - as you see in the formula, torque is only equal to HP at 5252 RPM. Adding torque below that point gains proportionally less HP. The supertrapp is a tunable pipe, you have a wider, flatter power band as you tune to a lower peak, narrower and higher as you tune for higher RPM. There is no free lunch, but you can have what works best for you.
My newest bike has a very flat torque curve, over 75 lb-ft from 3000 to red line and will show tail-light to bikes with way more HP - at least to 60 or so, after that, I can lose 'em in the corners which is more fun anyway. (It has a Drummer SS, BTW)

During the summer I ride a lot and play with the tunes . Have canned maps loaded that I use two up touring that provide outstanding mileage. Others for cold weather riding and hot. Towards the end of fall I added 2 more disk bring the total to 14 in each pipe, ran out of time to fully adjust the tune to match.
You are correct no free lunch. With the limiter set a 6250 RPMs after about 5000 rpms only speed is gained torque falls like a rock Each gain you get cost you some where else. That is what is so great about todays tuners , I can switch between maps in about 30 seconds.
My point was that it will take little for the after market providers to deal with the ELIO . We see what is done with the bikes we ride if there is a market someone will have a good tuner adapted to the ELIO in a heart beat.
I have settle down in the area of speed now days and ride my Harleys , but that darn BMW KT 1600 calls to me every time I walk in the door. I should have never demoed that thing.

 

[JEBar]

I seriously doubt that aftermarket tuners will be able to do much to increase fuel mileage but have no doubt that they will be able to make some strong gains in the power/acceleration/speed departments .... I used to run a power tuner in our '99 Silverado .... it did deliver a noticeable difference in power but to do so we had to change the thermostat and burn high test gasoline .... after that I pretty much lost interest in a tuner for a gasoline powered vehicle .... now with diesel powered trucks, that's a completely different manner .... for our Elio I won't be the first to buy an aftermarket tuner but will surly follow the reports/evaluations of those who do

 

[PJ]

This is terrible. I should not be reading what you gays are saying about modification possibilities and resulting horsepower.

The problem is, all this talk makes me want to buy a second elio I can maximize power on.

Was going to but another 1k down for a second one after engine start but now I'll hold of till Elio 3.0 comes out by them it should have turbo and no more elgin dash.