Something’s Gotta Give.....

[Ty]

They had electric cars before 1837?
Damn Ty, you learn something every day.

They didn't have very many of them, that's for sure but, yes... the first practical one was built in 1859. (the first electric 3 wheeler was built in 1881.

The first known electric car was built in 1837 by chemist Robert Davidson of Aberdeen. It was powered by galvanic cells (batteries). Davidson later built a larger locomotive named Galvani, exhibited at the Royal Scottish Society of Arts Exhibition in 1841. The seven-ton vehicle had two direct-drive reluctance motors, with fixed electromagnets acting on iron bars attached to a wooden cylinder on each axle, and simple commutators. It hauled a load of six tons at four miles per hour for a distance of one and a half miles. It was tested on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in September of the following year, but the limited power from batteries prevented its general use. It was destroyed by railway workers, who saw it as a threat to their security of employment.[

 

[RSchneider]

Here's a question: Why is the "All In" limited to just a $1000.00 maximum?
How many would be willing to spend the full amount of at least $7450.00 (base amount) without a guarantee of a vehicle?

Here's an idea. Maybe Elio should send out a questionnaire to the current reservation holders. They could ask, would you be willing to pre buy your Elio today? This would be where you option out your Elio and then with whatever discounts and money you already put down, gets subtracted from the final price. For example, you are locked in at $7K, already paid $1K and have a $500 bonus. That comes out to $5500 but you add into that, a few options for an extra $1000 which means, you'd pay $6500 today.


With the 65K reservations, they could easily hit $376M. If you took 15K at $6500, that's $90.5M. Then if another 15K at $7000, that's $105M. Then another 15K are at $7500, that's $112.5M. Right there it becomes $308M. That's only 45K of the 65K. So, the last 20K could just put down an extra $3500 and Elio is beyond what they need by $2M.

That right there would get investors coming in because they see that people are not just buying a place in line but the real product. That ends up showing market acceptance in a big way.

 

[Elio Amazed]

Here's an idea.

Isn't/wasn't there a poll on this site at one time asking exactly that?
If you can't find it and you're really curious enough, put up another and see what happens.

 

[Ty]

Here's an idea. Maybe Elio should send out a questionnaire to the current reservation holders. They could ask, would you be willing to pre buy your Elio today? This would be where you option out your Elio and then with whatever discounts and money you already put down, gets subtracted from the final price. For example, you are locked in at $7K, already paid $1K and have a $500 bonus. That comes out to $5500 but you add into that, a few options for an extra $1000 which means, you'd pay $6500 today.


With the 65K reservations, they could easily hit $376M. If you took 15K at $6500, that's $90.5M. Then if another 15K at $7000, that's $105M. Then another 15K are at $7500, that's $112.5M. Right there it becomes $308M. That's only 45K of the 65K. So, the last 20K could just put down an extra $3500 and Elio is beyond what they need by $2M.

That right there would get investors coming in because they see that people are not just buying a place in line but the real product. That ends up showing market acceptance in a big way.

That would take a larger percent of people than you'd ever get to put more money into this... But other than that, why not?

 

[RSchneider]

It would be nice to have a poll without any comments. Then all it does is become yet another discussion about the same thing and thus the real reason behind the voting becomes lost in the noise. Plus you only would want the current reservation holders to vote. This site only has around 4K members. If 90% of the people here have a reservation, that would be around 3700. Out of those 3700, how many still show up? If you would get 100 votes, I'd be surprised.

Elio has all of the contact info for the 65K. It would do two things. First it would determine how many of the 65K are even interested enough to respond with either a yes or no. Second, it would determine how many of the voters would actually be willing to go along with it. Usually the main problem is that you might not like what you get as a response. You might have 65K reservation holders but how many are really still on board? You can hope and pray that all 65K are on board but the real numbers are what counts.

 

[larryboy]

It would be nice to have a poll without any comments. Then all it does is become yet another discussion about the same thing and thus the real reason behind the voting becomes lost in the noise. Plus you only would want the current reservation holders to vote. This site only has around 4K members. If 90% of the people here have a reservation, that would be around 3700. Out of those 3700, how many still show up? If you would get 100 votes, I'd be surprised.

Elio has all of the contact info for the 65K. It would do two things. First it would determine how many of the 65K are even interested enough to respond with either a yes or no. Second, it would determine how many of the voters would actually be willing to go along with it. Usually the main problem is that you might not like what you get as a response. You might have 65K reservation holders but how many are really still on board? You can hope and pray that all 65K are on board but the real numbers are what counts.

Why can't we put the remainder of the cost of the Elio in a refundable account? I have a $1K non refundable reservation at present. If the Elio is not ready for shipment by the end of 2019 we get that money back. (if we don't want to give Paul more time to produce). It takes a couple of business days for me to get access to my "play around money" and I would have to calculate the final cost of my Elio because I have a couple of discounts and I have not finalized my options yet. I could have a check in the mail by Monday!

 

[booboo]

Good Idea asking reservation holders.
Not so much for more money, but for help.
Has anyone ever crowdfunded 1/2 a billion?
I think ElioMotors options for the BIG funding are limited to the BIG money.

 

[Elio Amazed]

Why can't we put the remainder of the cost of the Elio in a refundable account? I have a $1K non refundable reservation at present. If the Elio is not ready for shipment by the end of 2019 we get that money back. (if we don't want to give Paul more time to produce). It takes a couple of business days for me to get access to my "play around money" and I would have to calculate the final cost of my Elio because I have a couple of discounts and I have not finalized my options yet. I could have a check in the mail by Monday!

How exactly would that help EM get to production if EM couldn't touch the money or use it as collateral?
What would be the point? We've already shown market interest by locking in.

Besides, can you IMAGINE the uproar if Paul asked the reservation holders for MORE money (in any form) at this point?

 

[Rob Croson]

Has anyone done a $400M kickstarter yet? You pledge your money, but if project doesn't hit 100% funding, it gets canceled, and no one pays.

At this point, though, I'm not sure I'd go for it. I hate to say it, but that's the way it is.

 

[Rickb]

It's inconceivable to me that any reservationist would consider sending EM another dime after the successful $16 Million Reg A+ funding round wasn't used for it's stated specific purpose, "$12 Million needed to complete and test the 25 prototypes, a process that will take 4-6 months."

What's the term for throwing good money after bad in an attempt to recover previously lost money? Back in 2010 Chip Stempeck said I would be test driving the Elio soon and I'm still waiting 7 years later. However, If you think it will help get me into the Elio drivers seat, Knock yourself out, it's your money.