Electric would make sense for the Elio. The advancement in battery and electric motors is in the fast lane of development. I hope Paul makes it happen.
Oil industry has no worry. No batteries today are good enough or cheap enough for a touring car. I know, just anytime we will see a break thru in technology for batteries (hearing this for the last few years) Technology is moving much faster in recovering oil we could not even detect a few years...
Paul Elio once said, " the Elio has to be over engineered, and well tested. The design is so new and radical to most of the public that imperfections and recalls won't be as tolerated like on established brands." That's really a paraphrase of what he said.