What Do We Know About The Elio Chassis?

[Darrellh]

I certainly don't argue against what someone likes or not. But I do like to know what you think. For me it's getting to the point that if I know what classic or typical cars a person likes, I have a fair chance to design overall body lines for a three wheeler (or 4) that person would respond to positively.

I'm less good at coming up with a cutting edge, new style, maybe being just a bit old fashioned about it. I'm beginning to think sometimes new automotive hyper-styling is, IMHO, just a bit 'terkie' ( Yes, as in. miley C ), seeming simply hunting edginess for edginess's sake. But that's just opinion based on what I personally like, of course. lol

The reason I like short overhangs, is for better clearance when changing road angles such as starting up a steep driveway.

 

[WilliamH]

Great work with the rendering, and I agree with you except I think you meant "twerking" which is done like this.

Or if you really meant "turkey" I'm cool with that too.

I'm even ok if you meant "trekkie"....
[Broken External Image]

Like the turkeys better that the twerkie or the trekkies.

 

[Lil4X]

The reason I like short overhangs, is for better clearance when changing road angles such as starting up a steep driveway.

I agree, that approach angle as drawn is pretty shallow. If that's representative of the final product, maybe we need an option for a bumper and overrides that would protect the lower edge of the nose from curbs and parking lot bumpers. I know several folks with slammed cars who can't get in and out of their own driveways without dragging something expensive.

 

[Lil4X]

Speaking of chassis, I think maybe this one flew under the radar, but wasn't there some mention of formed chassis elements? If structural components are now going to be pressed rather than welded up in a jig from bar stock, that's a HUGE step toward production. If I'm remembering it right, that little artifact could be bigger than running the engine on the dyno - a massive stride for the countdown calendar.

Oh yeah, it's in G1's post from Thursday:

So this image captured from the new EM investor inquiries video not only gives nice supplier information but also reveals a lot of changes to the EM chassis design. The over chassis and vehicle design now appears to be nicely fleshed out and about ready for pre-production testing.

Some chassis changes which have already been pointed out by myself and others:

The 'crush zone' details in the front are now present (see dimples in frame side).

The 'A' pillar base is now formed rather than the welded block of the P4. The forward main structural element runs to the back of the 'A' pillar base for integrity in that spar.

The 'B' pillar is now a formed and laminated section for strength, different from the P4 prototype stick construction, and typical of 'best practices' car construction..

The rear seat is integrated into the storage shelf/wheel well structure.

As expected the roof line behind the driver is less steep and more rounded which adds the extra bit of headroom which should allow an average height adult male to sit in the back seat comfortably. This also allows for about 50% larger rear windows which should make the space feel larger and less confined than in the P4.

Also note the low position of the engine, a positive feature for flat cornering and reducing the requirement for anti-sway bar to be as stiff thus improving ride and tracking.

As expected the exhaust system has been rerouted down the right side of the vehicle however what is unexpected is the exhaust exiting at the rear to the left of the rear wheel. As until now we have been told that the exhaust would not exit at the rear because the fuel tank was in the way, making routing the exhaust to the rear difficult, this image now has me wondering if the recent news about the slight fuel tank size reduction may actually be attributable to this new exhaust routing.

This view of the chassis shows a lot of changes from the P4 construction and some earlier images. It shows stamped/formed pieces, door opening flanges for seals, crush zone details, and the front seat slider mechanism, probably with a 'last position' feature for movement during rear seat entrance/exit.

 

[karl]

If I could only find something that has the "feel" of a "'56 long nosed 'D' Jag", a Lotus 7, and a Longbridge Austin-Healey I could be happy.
Of course NHTSA probably wouldn't allow it.

All you need is cash, lots of it. http://us.caterhamcars.com/

 

[goofyone]

I don' care for the extended nose, the current trend is short front and rear overhangs.

The reason I like short overhangs, is for better clearance when changing road angles such as starting up a steep driveway.

In the Elio the amount of front overhang has been dictated by function more so than form. The front wheel drive reverse trike configuration is most stable when the drive-train mass is low and centered over, or even slight in front of, the front drive wheels. For safety there is also a certain amount of crumple zone which must exist to control the rate of deceleration in an impact and how this is distributed relative to the engine, wheel location, and driver does matter. As we all know aerodynamics also plays a very large role in the Elio design, as this is very important in maximizing highway MPG, so as compared to the P4 the new design is able to improve in aerodynamics via a smaller radiator grill opening and extended nose which further smooths out the vehicles aerodynamics.

I don't think clearance will be a big deal in the final vehicle as the ride height will be 5.75", vs about 4" in the P4. My 1993 Honda Civic Sedan sits at 5" of ground clearance and appears to have a similar amount of front overhang to the newer Elio design yet I don't have issues with with overhang scraping anywhere that is not going to be an obvious issue for many vehicles.

 

[goofyone]

An interesting thing to me is that as EM has refined their vehicles' aerodynamics the overall design has moved much closer to that of the Edison2 VLC and Aptera extreme aerodynamic vehicles. The Elio design is simply a more realistically mass market interpretation of the same basic aerodynamic functions.

 

[Darrellh]

An interesting thing to me is that as EM has refined their vehicles' aerodynamics the overall design has moved much closer to that of the Edison2 VLC and Aptera extreme aerodynamic vehicles. The Elio design is simply a more realistically mass market interpretation of the same basic aerodynamic functions.

View attachment 5145

Do we know what the Elio's drag coefficients are? It's frontal area is only half as wide as the Aptera or Edison which I don't recall, but remember were very, very low. Elio is by far a lot better value than either of these were proposed to be, and wonder if the Elio's price killed off Edison's investors as they weren't planning on manufacturing it themselves? It is too late now, but if Elio if had combined the aerodynamics of these with the lower frontal area they would already be way above 84 MPG.

 

[Rickb]

Speaking of Honda...........

 

[AriLea]

Do we know what the Elio's drag coefficients are? It's frontal area is only half as wide as the Aptera or Edison which I don't recall, but remember were very, very low. Elio is by far a lot better value than either of these were proposed to be, and wonder if the Elio's price killed off Edison's investors as they weren't planning on manufacturing it themselves? It is too late now, but if Elio if had combined the aerodynamics of these with the lower frontal area they would already be way above 84 MPG.

I don't remember exactly but I think Jerome said something like .246cd. That isn't too good for a fully enclosed vehicle but this is with those outrigger wheels. What ever the cd is the lower cross-section makes up for it enough to reach the MPG goal. Fully covering the wheels would lower the cd but increase the cross section, and the expense. They made the right tradeoffs I'd say.

As far as the Edison is concerned, they just didn't connect with a angel investor, so they focused instead on licensing their technology. Unfortunately it usually takes the faith of the inventor to be willing to go the distance. Edison has interest in racing and may well be happy just playing in that field until they find other opportunities.

Edison is resourceful and creative, I've communicated about single and tandem seating with them before. There was lots of acceptance and comprehension in their responses.