What Do We Know About The Elio Chassis?

[Jeff Bowlsby]

Looking at the various chassis photos, not sure what to make of it all. Hopefully someone close to the production engineering can speak to this and this thread won't generate a lot of chatter.

I had assumed from what has been posted to date that the prototypes are merely design studies and that the chassis would evolve into a unibody, probably of pressed sheet metal pieces spot welded together as is conventional practice. The prototypes are mostly hand welded tube steel and a few plates very much in keeping with motorcycle frame construction technology, but the Elio is much larger and more complex than a motorcycle. The floor pans look like sheet metal panels. The inner door structure looks like its pressed sheet metal...any chance the door is from another vehicle? Constructing the frame in this way on a mass production basis would seem very costly and time consuming. The tube steel would also seem heavier than a sheet metal unibody but I could be wrong.

Has there been any discussion on the final chassis construction method?

 

[pistonboy]

You have brought up a very good subject. Everyone talks about the engine but not the chassis. In sporty cars, I consider the chassis more important than the engine. The chassis determines the feel and handling. I wonder what the "performance" feel of a three wheel vehicle this size will be?
I believe (not 100% sure) the body panels will not be metal but will be a composite material that may be glued onto the frame/cage. I think one of the suppliers listed will be providing the body panels.
If it does not have enough metal near the ground, does that mean it will not activate the road embedded sensors at traffic lights. I have enough problems with that on my motorcycles.

 

[zelio]

Looking at the various chassis photos, not sure what to make of it all. Hopefully someone close to the production engineering can speak to this and this thread won't generate a lot of chatter.

I had assumed from what has been posted to date that the prototypes are merely design studies and that the chassis would evolve into a unibody, probably of pressed sheet metal pieces spot welded together as is conventional practice. The prototypes are mostly hand welded tube steel and a few plates very much in keeping with motorcycle frame construction technology, but the Elio is much larger and more complex than a motorcycle. The floor pans look like sheet metal panels. The inner door structure looks like its pressed sheet metal...any chance the door is from another vehicle? Constructing the frame in this way on a mass production basis would seem very costly and time consuming. The tube steel would also seem heavier than a sheet metal unibody but I could be wrong.

Has there been any discussion on the final chassis construction method?

I believe goofyone is one person who may be able to discuss this. However I do know the prototypes are not something you should be judging the Elio by. They are hand built and use borrowed parts from other vehicles where possible. We do not have information on the building of the chassis at this time to my knowledge.

Good luck on not getting chatter. That is what we are here for and we enjoy learning from each other through it. :-) Z

 

[zelio]

You have brought up a very good subject. Everyone talks about the engine but not the chassis. In sporty cars, I consider the chassis more important than the engine. The chassis determines the feel and handling. I wonder what the "performance" feel of a three wheel vehicle this size will be?
I believe (not 100% sure) the body panels will not be metal but will be a composite material that may be glued onto the frame/cage. I think one of the suppliers listed will be providing the body panels.
If it does not have enough metal near the ground, does that mean it will not activate the road embedded sensors at traffic lights. I have enough problems with that on my motorcycles.

The body panels are definitely composite material. :-) Z

 

[pistonboy]

I very much admire people (prototype builders) who can build a vehicle from the ground up. It is a skill greatly to be admired.

 

[ecdriver711]

I don't know if it helps, but I have heard Paul Elio and others say it will not be uni-body and thus quieter and more ridged.

 

[BlioKart]

Tube chassis with FRP composite body panels and floor bonded to the frame. This is what will be on the production car. The benefit is a ridged frame will make the Elio handle well. Elio has more in common with a Nascar stock car than a conventional street car.

 

[karl]

Add double wishbone front independent suspension front drive and single sided swing arm rear suspension about sums it up.

 

[EZ]

i would bet the actual vehicle WHEN it makes it to production has less than 10% in common with the mule (maybe less tab 5%)
the mule is JUST something to hang body panels on to get investment monies from potential customers !
it is going to take hundreds of MILLIONS of dollars to actually produce the REAL VEHICLE , engineer and test the real engine/transmission, develop the ABS/anti-roll/air bag system, etc etc etc
does the orange P4 have three airbags ?
does the orange P4 have electronic safety systems ?

they do NOT allow test drives, THAT should tell us something !

that P4 is PRICELESS !

 

[Ty]

Looking at the various chassis photos, not sure what to make of it all. Hopefully someone close to the production engineering can speak to this and this thread won't generate a lot of chatter.

I had assumed from what has been posted to date that the prototypes are merely design studies and that the chassis would evolve into a unibody, probably of pressed sheet metal pieces spot welded together as is conventional practice. The prototypes are mostly hand welded tube steel and a few plates very much in keeping with motorcycle frame construction technology, but the Elio is much larger and more complex than a motorcycle. The floor pans look like sheet metal panels. The inner door structure looks like its pressed sheet metal...any chance the door is from another vehicle? Constructing the frame in this way on a mass production basis would seem very costly and time consuming. The tube steel would also seem heavier than a sheet metal unibody but I could be wrong.

Has there been any discussion on the final chassis construction method?

You bring up a great point. While the hand crafted frame is fine for a prototype, they'll have to have the frame finalized very soon if they are going to be doing much testing. I'd expect crash testing for sure and probably a little NVH testing as well. They don't have to do all the same testing that a car requires. But, they will do quite a bit of testing, I'm sure. They don't want the Elio to become the next Yugo so they'll make sure to have it pretty sorted out. I commend you for bringing up a topic I haven't seen on the forum before. It may be here but I haven't seen much about it.

The door is definitely a donor in the pictures. You can clearly see they used tubes to lengthen it. Paul touts that the Elio will have a full roll cage making it very safe. And I know he's mentioned steel tube frame. The body panels will be composite, of course. And they will be attached using adhesive (I didn't want to say they'll be glues on as that just sounds cheap) as is done by anyone using composite pieces (bumpers, fenders, etc). There will be enough metal to set off the sensors. I've never had a problem with my bike either. It doesn't take much metal to set those off.