Dieselio

[goofyone]

The fuel economy of the Elio really is amazing considering the car is also very simple with no advanced technology at all. They are accomplishing this using just a simple lightweight chassis and an aerodynamic body design as well a simple fuel efficient motor designed to take maximum advantage of the light weight. As I pointed out in my post above even comparing the Elio to some of the most fuel efficient vehicles available in Europe today it sill comes out ahead. When you factor in the added cost of diesel (which is what most of those cars use) vs gasoline the difference in operational cost becomes even wider without even mentioning the fact that the Elio would cost about half as much to purchase as the cheapest vehicles on the list.

I really do have to congratulate Paul Elio for his vision and being able to put a good team together which could turn his vision into reality. Now all we have to do is get the thing into production!

 

[Velnias]

I have no dog in the fight, I only care about accuracy and efficiency that is why I was checking. I believe that frequently people forget to convert because I've seen the argument before on facebook that the Elio is crap because someone's diesel Volvo in Europe was already getting high 70's or 80 mpg.

So if you could provide links to what vehicles get 60 mpg in Europe, that would be great. I lived there for a short time in late 90's and comparing car for car is not a good comparison, our compacts (Honda Civics) were their family cars, and most young people I knew drove micro cars (i.e. Ford Fiesta/Festiva's - I forget)

Here is just one from Volkswagen UK. I converted them to US gallons and got the following:
1.0 60PS = 60.31mpg highway
**BlueMotion Technology 1.0 60PS = 65.34mpg highway
1.0 75PS = 58.8mpg highway

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/new/up-nf/which-model/engines/overview

 

[BlioKart]

After the elio comes out people will retrofit a variety of engines to it. Diesel would be cool.

Elio

 

[KN16]

The fuel economy of the Elio really is amazing considering the car is also very simple with no advanced technology at all. They are accomplishing this using just a simple lightweight chassis and an aerodynamic body design as well a simple fuel efficient motor designed to take maximum advantage of the light weight. As I pointed out in my post above even comparing the Elio to some of the most fuel efficient vehicles available in Europe today it sill comes out ahead. When you factor in the added cost of diesel (which is what most of those cars use) vs gasoline the difference in operational cost becomes even wider without even mentioning the fact that the Elio would cost about half as much to purchase as the cheapest vehicles on the list.

I really do have to congratulate Paul Elio for his vision and being able to put a good team together which could turn his vision into reality. Now all we have to do is get the thing into production!

LOL! Why didn't I think of this point earlier? If there's a big oil conspiracy to keep the diesel Smart out of the U.S. because of fuel mileage then the Elio is doomed.

Tin foil hat sold separately.

 

[Velnias]

LOL! Why didn't I think of this point earlier? If there's a big oil conspiracy to keep the diesel Smart out of the U.S. because of fuel mileage then the Elio is doomed.

Tin foil hat sold separately.

Would you like your jester/fools hat first? Call me when you're ready to wake up from the fantasy world that's been pulled over your eyes from our lovely corporatism/oligarchy that you think is a capitalist/democracy.

I mean it's not like the oil companies spend hundreds of billions buying the politicians in charge of these things, buy out the patents out from under the inventors, pay off scientists (aka provide the majority funding for their "research"), or people in the EPA come from oil company backgrounds only to go back to more lucrative oil company executive positions after leaving the EPA. Nope, that doesn't happen like a revolving door between DC and the corporations or anything.

If you believe it doesn't happen that way, I have a nice bridge to nowhere up for sale that I'm sure you'd just love, and I'll sell it cheap to you too.

 

[HoofHearted]

It is my understanding that the problem with the Smart diesel is that the EPA looks at the amount of emissions per amount of fuel burned with less consideration given to the amount of emissions per mile. Environmentally the Smart diesel may be a good choice.
Many of my fellow truckers have expressed concerns about the demand for diesel being high due to vehicles outside of the transportation industry using diesel. This may be part of the reason why diesel is now more expensive than regular gas. It may also be part of the reason the Smart diesel is not available in the U. S.

 

[KN16]

I have a nice bridge to nowhere up for sale that I'm sure you'd just love, and I'll sell it cheap to you too.

I don't need your conspiracy theory. Paul Elio is going to sell a bridge to everywhere, and he's going to sell it cheep too. That pretty much puts your theory to bed.

 

[Ty]

If "Big oil" is such a conspiracy, they are REALLY bad at it... Tesoro's profit margin has ranged from -3.83% to +7.91% over the past 5 years compared to Apple's +28.2% profit margin... Fuel efficient cars being "hidden by big oil" is a crock of crap. There are plenty of very high mileage cars... They don't sell very well so manufactures end up making fuel inefficient cars and trucks that people will actually buy. Flame away.

 

[KN16]

If "Big oil" is such a conspiracy, they are REALLY bad at it... Tesoro's profit margin has ranged from -3.83% to +7.91% over the past 5 years compared to Apple's +28.2% profit margin... Fuel efficient cars being "hidden by big oil" is a crock of crap. There are plenty of very high mileage cars... They don't sell very well so manufactures end up making fuel inefficient cars and trucks that people will actually buy. Flame away.

As you wish...

 

[JNR]

Here is just one from Volkswagen UK. I converted them to US gallons and got the following:
1.0 60PS = 60.31mpg highway
**BlueMotion Technology 1.0 60PS = 65.34mpg highway
1.0 75PS = 58.8mpg highway

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/new/up-nf/which-model/engines/overview

I wouldn't say I'm done researching, but for now I think I have found a reasonable source on Wikipedia that will explain the mpg discrepancies:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_economy_in_automobiles

And in more basic speak from click an clack: http://www.cartalk.com/content/why-do-european-cars-get-better-mpg-their-us-equivalents

The European cycle to test L/100km (USmpg or whatever units you want to use) is not close to real life testing. That is why the same or similar car in Europe will list a vastly different equivalent mpg. It is also why people complain in Europe that they can't get close to the rated mpg's. Sure people complain here, as people will do, but the data that can be found from voluntary mpg websites that are out there proves that the latest EPA cycle is pretty darn accurate.

So take your 65 mpg highway car in European cycle, with the rule of thumb derate you would get 38 mpg US EPA cycle.

The longer conversion is explained here: That is a UK site that lists your car at 65 mpg (imperial gallon) * .833, which would be 54 mpg (US gallon). Then account for the European test cycle and this is where you don't have a fixed conversion, but based on available info for identical cars, dividing by 1.2 or 1.3 is very conservative and as much as 1.4 is realistic, so you end up with between 38 and 45 mpg (US gallon) EPA fuel economy.

I'd be glad to be shown wrong, so I welcome any criticism.