Would You Pay Full Price To Boot Up Production?

I'd be game. Hell, even $8500 - which is what I actually expect the price to be.

WilliamH said:

The same administration and DOE that wants to give $4 Billion to Silicon Valley for self driving cars.
Incidentally, the administration is the Executive Branch which just happens to directly control the DOE.
Sounds pretty incestuous to me.

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I didn't know Silicon Valley applied for the DOE's ATVM giveaway, more commonly referred to as a low interest loan program. I think silicon valley would be a sound and profitable venture capital investment of tax payer dollars with a guaranteed safe return on the $4B. I'm certain silicon valley has assets and current sales revenue showing the required ability to repay the loan all while providing some high paying technology based jobs, ass.u.me ing a 50/50 chance of made in the USA.

Thomas Malkin said:

Everyone is convinced SDCs will work. It's like watching Web 2.0 all over again. None yet exist - those are mules driving 20 in a 45 - , yet people extend their trust of their beloved phones and video games to robots driving cars, refusing to notice that their presnent gear crashes all the time. It's mass hysteria/enthusiam coupled with a law enforcement dream of full-time monitoring and control of all movement in the country. And car companies dream of forcing people to buy new smart cars every five years - it'd kill the used car market, and keep people financially shacked to new car loans for all time. They're gonna make bank on smart car obsolescence.

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".......their present gear crashes all the time...."
In the 16 accidents they have on record 14 were when the human operator took over the controls; 2 on their own is hardly "crashing all the time"
You might want to do some fact checking for your statements.

And the only accident with an injury (a minor injury) in 500,000 miles of driving came when a guy blasted into an intersection and hit a line of three cars, one of which happened to be the SDC. The SDC wasn't even the car at the front of the line.

Hard to blame them for that one.

Look, I love cars. Learned to drive in a 5.0L Gremlin (not only was it not a self-driving car, it was nearly impossible to control as a human-driven car), had a Mustang Cobra has my first car and still have my first year '79 RX-7 for fun on a twisty road on a summer day.

However, I also have a 35 mile one way commute in the mornings which is often (as it was today) crowded, gloomy, and filled with idiots. I'd be happy to let Max Headroom take the wheel for these occasions.

A nap while the SDC takes me to work? Gee I think I could get behind that concept once my trust level is high enough. Road trips? Probably not.

I'd first like to see autonomous driving be integrated into the goods and freight movement sector, with a focus on long interstate segments. This would increase efficiency and alleviate issues with sleep deprivation/reduced alertness.

Rickb said:

I didn't know Silicon Valley applied for the DOE's ATVM giveaway, more commonly referred to as a low interest loan program. I think silicon valley would be a sound and profitable venture capital investment of tax payer dollars with a guaranteed safe return on the $4B. I'm certain silicon valley has assets and current sales revenue showing the required ability to repay the loan all while providing some high paying technology based jobs, ass.u.me ing a 50/50 chance of made in the USA.

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Figured I would post my source.
It appears that the President wants this program from the story.
----> http://www.infowars.com/obama-wants-4-billion-to-subsidize-silicon-valley-driverless-cars/ <----

Thomas Malkin said:

Would you, and especially those 50,000+ who dropped cash to reserve an Elio, pay full price up front, pre-production, if the DOE torpedoed the loan entirely? 50,000 X $6,800 = more than enough to start production. Even a fraction of full price would do.

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nope., too much risk for me. Would I pay upfront when the line starts??, yes

What if they did an "all-or-nothing" crowdfunding type of thing? Basically, EM would say, "We need $X to start production." Then reservation holders could agree to pay part or wholly for their Elio up-front. The money would be held in escrow until EM actually reached the goal: if they can't raise the full amount then everybody gets the money back, but if they reach the goal then the money all goes to EM and they begin production.

This is basically how all modern internet crowdfunding works.

The only thing that would stop me from supporting that type sort of fundraising effort is if the minimum amount to clear escrow isn't high enough to fully fund the production run. That would mean that they would need to call in 75-100% of the current reservations and I don't think that's feasible yet. Luckily, with the Reg A+ funding coming in, they don't need to play that card yet. Once the E-series proves out the design and the Elio meets the mileage and safety goals, I see PE rather easily being able to secure VC funding and drawing a substantial number of new reservations that will make the numbers work to get to production even without the ATVM loan.