Life After The 2017 Introductory Model... How About The Elio Ii?

[Rob Croson]

Oh, and I'd really much rather the wheels sheer off on impact than the passenger cabin take the brunt of the impact. So, I lose a wheel. Big deal. I'm safe. And the replacement value of the Elio will probably be much less than the cost of repairing a regular car, if it can even be repaired.

 

[voyager]

Where does author suggest "side by side" driving?
The picture suggests what's also know as a brick-layer formation.

The point is that cars tend to grow wider. That trend can be reversed sensibly.
Not to everyone's taste, no doubt. But 1 out 800 seems like a safe bet.
Secondly, the suggested vehicle accommodates three instead of two.
In the Elio the passenger is tucked away claustrophobically behind the driver.

Thirdly, NHTSA's latest guidelines suggest that any time in the future it might object to car-like vehicles that have exposed wheels and suspensions that might harm pedestrians...

 

[W. WIllie]

Pedestrians shouldn't be on the freeway....Bye

 

[WilliamH]

Where does author suggest "side by side" driving?
The picture suggests what's also know as a brick-layer formation.
The point is that cars tend to grow wider. That trend can be reversed sensibly.
Not to everyone's taste, no doubt. But 1 out 800 seems like a safe bet.
Secondly, the suggested vehicle accommodates three instead of two.
In the Elio the passenger is tucked away claustrophobically behind the driver.

Thirdly, NHTSA's latest guidelines suggest that any time in the future it might object to car-like vehicles that have exposed wheels and suspensions that might harm pedestrians...

To your point that cars grow wider.
A 1950 Ford Tudor was only .15m (6 in) narrower than a current (2015) Ford Expedition.
Not a big difference.

Second... If you think it will sell, build it. I don't need three seats.

Third... Please provide a reference URL

 

[Rob Croson]

Where does author suggest "side by side" driving?
The picture suggests what's also know as a brick-layer formation.

It is one possibility that would explain the author's assertion that narrower cars would reduce congestion. How is that going to happen? You can't make the lanes smaller, because you still have to accommodate existing vehicles. You could possibly make new, smaller lanes that would be restricted to some new classification of ultra-compact cars. Not likely to be very popular in the US. But even if you could do this, how much smaller would the lanes really be? His proposed vehicle is only one to one-and-a-half feet narrower than existing cars. So narrow the lane by the max of 1.5 feet and what do you get? Narrower roads, with no increase in number of lanes unless your road is at least 6 lanes wide. (Assuming you want a 9' wide lane, which doesn't sound unreasonable with a 5' wide vehicle.) Alternative explanations for reducing congestion based solely on a narrower vehicle are lane sharing, which is stupid with a 12' lane and a 5' vehicle, or something like your bricklayer formation. And no one is going to do that with a bunch of strangers in rush hour traffic on a daily basis. So his claim that his 1' narrower vehicle is a panacea for road congestion is total bunk, barring some country-wide paradigm shift in people's attitudes in vehicles. And what do you think the odds are for that to happen in the next 20 years?

The point is that cars tend to grow wider. That trend can be reversed sensibly.
Not to everyone's taste, no doubt. But 1 out 800 seems like a safe bet.

Which will accomplish none of his claims.

Secondly, the suggested vehicle accommodates three instead of two.
In the Elio the passenger is tucked away claustrophobically behind the driver.

And the point is ... what?

I never said his design was bad. In fact, it's innovative and worth a shot. I don't know how well it would catch on, but who knows?

What I objected to about the article was the lack of logic in his attack on the Elio's wide stance, when his pet proposal has no substantial improvement or benefit.

Thirdly, NHTSA's latest guidelines suggest that any time in the future it might object to car-like vehicles that have exposed wheels and suspensions that might harm pedestrians...

Anything can change at any time. And if they do, Elio could easily adapt their body design to enclose the suspension in some version of an expanded body fairing.

 

[voyager]

Thx Rob.

 

[ross]

You are trying to do to the Elio what Ford did to the Tbird. What started out as a sweet little two seater eventually turned into a bloated oversized boat. however if it wasn't for the original Tbird the Corvette wouldn't be here today. The first Corvettes in 1953 and '54 were six cylinder powerglide (2 speed automatic) cars and only sold about 800 units a year, so Chevrolet was going to halt production, but when Ford announced production of the Tbird in 1955 the management at GM figured if they stopped building the Corvette it would look like they had surrendered the 'sports car' market to Ford so they continued on. The following year (1955) Chevrolet introduced the 265 cubic inch small block V8, put it in the 'Vette and the rest is history. The Corvette is America's sports car and the Thunderbird is a distant memory.

 

[Rickb]

I like the idea of shorter and somewhat narrower vehicles like the SRK and it's "Rockstar Parking" claims made by parking 3 SRK's perpendicular to the curb in a dedicated single car parking space. It would reduce dramatically the need for asphalt parking lots and turning those acres back into Commercial/Retail/Condo use. Better yet Parking lots to Parks providing green space for recreational use. Obviously we still need the wide roadways to accommodate wider cars, mass transit, and truck traffic........but it would give back thousands of acres of what is now dedicated to parking lots. Would certainly improve the asphalt jungle urban landscape.

 

[Elio Amazed]

I like the idea of shorter and somewhat narrower vehicles like the SRK and it's "Rockstar Parking" claims made by parking 3 SRK's perpendicular to the curb in a dedicated single car parking space. It would reduce dramatically the need for asphalt parking lots and turning those acres back into Commercial/Retail/Condo use. Better yet Parking lots to Parks providing green space for recreational use. Obviously we still need the wide roadways to accommodate wider cars, mass transit, and truck traffic........but it would give back thousands of acres of what is now dedicated to parking lots. Would certainly improve the asphalt jungle urban landscape.

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Rick, I'm usually right there with you, but I'm going to have to disagree with this.

The arcimoto is a fair-weather vehicle.
The few folk who commute on the arcimoto in good weather...

Will be driving full-size vehicles in less than good weather.
Thus, there can be no reduction of parking lot square footage...
Because you'll need all of that existing parking in the long "off season".

I'm sure you noticed that I said, "The few folk...".
Our local Wal-mart employs almost 400 people and is a typical example of this.
You can count the people who ride motorcycles to work In good weather...
Including all three shifts... on one hand.

On the overnight shift there's only one bike in the parking lot.
And here, it seems like 1 out of 3 households owns one or more MCs.

 

[Sethodine]

I like the idea of shorter and somewhat narrower vehicles like the SRK and it's "Rockstar Parking" claims made by parking 3 SRK's perpendicular to the curb in a dedicated single car parking space. It would reduce dramatically the need for asphalt parking lots and turning those acres back into Commercial/Retail/Condo use. Better yet Parking lots to Parks providing green space for recreational use. Obviously we still need the wide roadways to accommodate wider cars, mass transit, and truck traffic........but it would give back thousands of acres of what is now dedicated to parking lots. Would certainly improve the asphalt jungle urban landscape.

View attachment 10454

I remember the Smart car being touted for this same ability, back when those where first showing up. Never once saw them park like that in the real world though.