Metal...body?

[Elio Amazed]

Sigh.. temper tantrums.

It amuses me that people got excited about the elio when all they new were the 4 tenants and vague prototypes often throwing in the reservation money with little more than a glimmer of what might be. As more details get exposed in concept or even fully endorsed those same people seem to think they were slighted, sold a bill of goods, and simply cannot except the beauty that they originally saw in the elio.

Please people, don't lose focus; remember what it was about the elio that excited you and realize it is still there. If you are no longer excited, well don't look for an excuse to move on, just move on.

I wouldn't take any of the previous posts as being "temper tantrums" just because they express opinions I might not agree with.
Though I won't hesitate to call BS on untruths, I do my best to respect opinions here whether I agree with them or not.
As Coss put it so well... "To each his own".

 

[electroken]

I'm not sure I understand all the stressing about steel body panels. The stuff the body panels attach to is far more important.

 

[NSTG8R]

Here's my take on the video [that I finally had a chance to watch]:

The "steel body panels" he's referring to describe the metal unibody/chassis. The outer body panels are to be installed on 'trim line #3'. This would be your door skin, wheel fairings, hood, trunk, etc...No mention of them being "metal". I think people are getting hung up on the semantics of the description of the internal structure. It is a 'unibody' design, but "body" doesn't necessarily mean exterior panels.

For your consideration from the March 14, 2016 blog:

The majority of the body panels are made from molded fiberglass. Fiberglass has several advantages that make it perfect for Elio Motors. It offers significant weight savings over stamped steel and other metals, which benefits overall fuel efficiency. Tooling to manufacture fiberglass panels is less expensive than stamping dies and it also can be produced more quickly. It is also cost effective in production, because it has low labor requirements.



The body panels were designed by the Molded Plastic Development team, which includes Molded Plastic Industries of Holt, Michigan and Excel Pattern of Dearborn, Michigan, in collaboration with Frame Development Team supplier-member, Schwab Industries of Shelby Township, Mich.

Speaking of the process, Frank Phillips, Jr., president of Molded Plastic Products said, “The Elio Motors design process is the new paradigm in automotive engineering and design. It allows participating suppliers to bring their best ideas to the table and to work together collaboratively with other product development teams (PDTs) for the good of the project. It’s very different from the long-standing status quo in getting a vehicle to the commercial production stage. I’ve worked in the industry since 1982 and have never experienced this much revolutionary development-process innovation.”

 

[Sailor Dog]

Whoops...I believe you are right...still an uncommon if great choice. Molded fiberglass works for me. Don't know what the downsides would be, see the positives though! This thread is eye opening!
Edit: meant SMC, not molded fiberglass-sorry!

 

[Sailor Dog]

Here's my take on the video [that I finally had a chance to watch]:

The "steel body panels" he's referring to describe the metal unibody/chassis. The outer body panels are to be installed on 'trim line #3'. This would be your door skin, wheel fairings, hood, trunk, etc...No mention of them being "metal". I think people are getting hung up on the semantics of the description of the internal structure. It is a 'unibody' design, but "body" doesn't necessarily mean exterior panels.

For your consideration from the March 14, 2016 blog:

The majority of the body panels are made from molded fiberglass. Fiberglass has several advantages that make it perfect for Elio Motors. It offers significant weight savings over stamped steel and other metals, which benefits overall fuel efficiency. Tooling to manufacture fiberglass panels is less expensive than stamping dies and it also can be produced more quickly. It is also cost effective in production, because it has low labor requirements.



The body panels were designed by the Molded Plastic Development team, which includes Molded Plastic Industries of Holt, Michigan and Excel Pattern of Dearborn, Michigan, in collaboration with Frame Development Team supplier-member, Schwab Industries of Shelby Township, Mich.

Speaking of the process, Frank Phillips, Jr., president of Molded Plastic Products said, “The Elio Motors design process is the new paradigm in automotive engineering and design. It allows participating suppliers to bring their best ideas to the table and to work together collaboratively with other product development teams (PDTs) for the good of the project. It’s very different from the long-standing status quo in getting a vehicle to the commercial production stage. I’ve worked in the industry since 1982 and have never experienced this much revolutionary development-process innovation.”

Still body panel agnostic...but molded fiberglass panels should please people in the rust belt...I totally believe you that rust is a serious issue there.
Edit: should have said SMC instead of molded fiberglass panels...sorry

 

[NSTG8R]

Still body panel agnostic...but molded fiberglass panels should please people in the rust belt...I totally believe you that rust is a serious issue there.

Hey Sailor Dog. I'm originally from Arvada, CO and SW Denver. I remember as a kid that you could easily tell if a car on the road was from around here [there] or not without even seeing the license plate. If there was rust on it, the car/truck wasn't from Colorado. When I first moved out here I was stunned to see rust on house's floor support beams [worked HVAC, so saw lots of basements and crawl spaces]. Unprotected steel doesn't stand a chance out here.

 

[Sailor Dog]

We do have more than our fair share of collectable cars as a result...routinely see vintages from the 1940s or maybe older!

 

[Ekh]

Whoops...I believe you are right...still an uncommon if great choice. Molded fiberglass works for me. Don't know what the downsides would be, see the positives though! This thread is eye opening!

Weight

 

[Frim]

After reading further, It is clear that I made a mistake. I don't have a fixed opinion about steel outer panels, but I was happy with the composite outer panels. CI suppose that change is the only thing that is guaranteed at this point.

My heretofore unspoken concern has been cure cycles. Our production limitation on the Back to Future cars was the cure time on the door panels. That was the limiting factor. Presently, on our molded composite repairs that are vacuum bagged, the cure cycle is still the limiting factor. You cannot get a faster or better cake by turning up the heat. A catalytic cure can be accelerated, but that has limitations. Whereas, a steel panel can be stamped or hydro- formed in seconds. I am sure that any change will be driven by costs. I still trust Paul and EM to pursue the vision of an affordable personal transportation.

 

[NSTG8R]

My heretofore unspoken concern has been cure cycles. Our production limitation on the Back to Future cars was the cure time on the door panels. That was the limiting factor. Presently, on our molded composite repairs that are vacuum bagged, the cure cycle is still the limiting factor. You cannot get a faster or better cake by turning up the heat. A catalytic cure can be accelerated, but that has limitations. Whereas, a steel panel can be stamped or hydro- formed in seconds. I am sure that any change will be driven by costs. I still trust Paul and EM to pursue the vision of an affordable personal transportation.

Actually, SMC has a raw material to cured component of around 3 minutes. The SMC comes as fiber infused resin slab. They slap it into a heated mold of the component [male/female], and the heat and pressure form the component. Very quick, very easy, fairly durable final product, dimensionally stable, and the tooling is much cheaper to produce.

This site explains the process nicely:

http://moldedfiberglass.com/processes/processes/closed-molding-processes/compression-molding-process