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Who Will Take 100 Preproduction Of Eilo In Dec 2016?
- Thread starter brian34220
- Start date
NSTG8R
Elio Addict
RUCRAYZE
Elio Addict
and T-Rex if you can bite the bullet- looking for performance- 0-60 under 4 sec!! Now if they enclose it!!!!
raptor213
Elio Addict
I think the dynamics of promotion are pretty well set for the Elio. It doesn't really need big-wig endorsements or TV advertising. It only needs believable material progress to secure the financing and then to be on the street to trigger the flood of buyers. The 23 build and especially the 100 built will do a lot for both.Exposing the ELIO to the general public and to the whole world watching it's performance is something that can't be kept quiet about. Yes it's going to fleet customers/drivers who will make their own opinions no matter how they're "coached" to keep any potential problem/s to themselves. And God forbid, if the ELIO is involved in an accident, fatal or not, it will be in prime time news faster than they can figure out what caused it. Generating some income from the 100 pre-prod is one thing, but doing it to test the market?? To test it's durability??? Testing 1-2 E-series out there on real world scenario, so long as these units was produced on their actual production lines will give them all the validation they need to go full scale or at least to deliver the first 65K units allotted to reservationists. Am I whining again???
But after the Elio is on the street the buyer response will be hugely interesting. And is by nature one that will mature into long-time sales.
The only caveat is that Elio needs a positive result from the first Elio's to hit the street. The fleet sales are excellent for that giving Elio Motors plenty of time to adjust any issues in a controllable confidential environment. Any issues get noticed and EM can just claim these are test units. It's perfect.
After real production starts, better to 'give' 100 Elios (even just 20) for government evaluation than pay or pander for celeb endorsement. That 'gift' would trigger much more sales than you might think. The USA has "3,144 counties and county equivalents. Cities and towns: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 19,354 incorporated places in the United States.". Then of course 50 States. If the average is 10 units(yearly) for each entity (more is very likely), that's around 250,000 vehicles just for government. All government needs is reliable savings and safety data. '100' given (and experience tracked) would do that very well, giving a jump start to fleet sales.
I don't think it would be hard to convince a government entity to accept a few free Elio's in exchange for their weekly feedback and final endorsement if the results are positive. Just ordering more that they buy will be good evidence of acceptance.
Other numbers:
Dec 10, 2012 - The federal government owns or leases 254,059 vehicles, excluding the military
Enterprise, America's biggest car rental company, owns more than half a million rental vehicles.
The state of Mississippi owns more than 7,000 vehicles,
2009-U.S. government (GSA) buys 17,205 new cars for $287 million(to replace aging vehicles)
Feb 15, 2015 - The state purchased $540000 worth of new Ford Fusion Hybrids
Connecticut- DAS had 4,052 vehicles assigned to state agencies as of April 7, 2009
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Very well said Arilea except correct me if I'm wrong but the 23 E-series are hand built, the 100 pre-prods are factory line assembled so EM may have validated what they need to w/ the E-series but what they need to do next is to TEST at least one of the 100 pre-prod for real world testing rather than building all of it and releasing it to fleet customers where if anything goes wrong, there's no such thing as "controlled confidential environment"! They're not on a "test track" but rather out there for all eyes to see!!! IMHO, with all the years of waiting, and to me it's fine because the biggest factor of the wait is funding, but having said that, it's either READY or not. I say, complete all tests of the E-series, correct any problems and make the necessary adjustments and make a FEW of the pre-prod built on the actual production line using the preprogrammed robots and actual workers and then send them out for real world testing where there is snow, desert, rain, etc., that's where it's easier to say, hey, it broke but we're still on the testing phase of this vehicle! Just my 2 cents.
Very hard to say about the 100 fabrication methods. Certainly they will have one set of tooling to do the panels, and will use it as a way to help test out production line methods and equipment. But most likely it will be a part and pieces of the actual line.
That is, they may manually apply a few panels, and use that experience to fine-tune the robot program for one robot. They may or may not have all robots for that one step programmed by the time 100 Elios are built. This is all part of manufacturing processes R&D.
Ty may know a lot better how this activity cascades out from fab development into full production automation.
That is, they may manually apply a few panels, and use that experience to fine-tune the robot program for one robot. They may or may not have all robots for that one step programmed by the time 100 Elios are built. This is all part of manufacturing processes R&D.
Ty may know a lot better how this activity cascades out from fab development into full production automation.
Yeah, where's Ty when you need him!
Any brand new car, if it's going to break down, whether it's mechanical or electrical, will break down sooner than later. That's how you spot a lemon or a keeper. EM could have a winner with the release of the 100 pre-prod, or 100 potential recalls running loose all over the US so I hope they get it right.....the first time.
Ty
Elio Addict
The assembly line will most likely be set up to assemble the S series. (The 100) How they'll feed parts to the line is what we really don't know. They'll most likely use the run of 100 to ensure the stations function correctly in the right order. Get past thinking that there are robots that are going to assemble the cars. It is going to be people assembling the Elios with the use of assist devices. The line will pull the bucks around with Elio Frames and panels, etc. and those will have to be set up to accommodate the right pieces but that's like setting up a jig. What will be fun is making sure each station has the right tools and parts. It won't be too difficult for some. "Okay, make sure station 101B has 2 bolts, a bracket, and a hood hinge set... Times 100"
They'll have a group of assembly techs - I'd assume they'll use this time to train managers and line leads - that will basically follow a small batch of Elios around. They'll all work a few stations and then move down the line. I'd take a group of 5 cars and 20 people or so and basically walk along with the cars, man the next 10 stations, and work through them at speed to make sure it's possible to assemble Elios. Man, that would be fun to set up. This is assuming that Elio has all the parts and engines needed to feed the line. Those assembly lines will be separate from the main assembly line and can be looked at as sub-processes.... Paint, Engine, and Drivetrain lines are the three big sub-assembly lines I can think of right now.
Wouldn't it be fun to watch them take that first small batch down the line and watch them being put together... and then driving one away to it's eventual fleet owner? Yeah, I can dream a little.
They'll have a group of assembly techs - I'd assume they'll use this time to train managers and line leads - that will basically follow a small batch of Elios around. They'll all work a few stations and then move down the line. I'd take a group of 5 cars and 20 people or so and basically walk along with the cars, man the next 10 stations, and work through them at speed to make sure it's possible to assemble Elios. Man, that would be fun to set up. This is assuming that Elio has all the parts and engines needed to feed the line. Those assembly lines will be separate from the main assembly line and can be looked at as sub-processes.... Paint, Engine, and Drivetrain lines are the three big sub-assembly lines I can think of right now.
Wouldn't it be fun to watch them take that first small batch down the line and watch them being put together... and then driving one away to it's eventual fleet owner? Yeah, I can dream a little.