Elio Door Beams

[BilgeRat]

Hello from Illinois, Chadwick!

 

[Ekh]

Having the chance to see, and discuss, how the vehicle design is evolving along the way is definitely one of the most interesting parts of this process for me as well. We just generally do not have the chance to see this in such detail from just about anyone else as design and engineering work is generally closely guarded information.

Another good thing about being able to compare these images is that it becomes obvious just how much effort must have been put into engineering analysis, updated designs, and simulation work which has all been happening behind the scenes over a good period of time. This is great to keep in mind when we may feel down about what we perceive to be slow progress in terms of updates from EM. Unfortunately it is very likely that in a few simple paragraphs and animations EM pretty much gave us a general overview of a year of work for the engineering and simulation teams.

Is there a double-like button? If so, I'd use it for this post.

 

[james92se]

I bet the higher door beam is actually placed more appropriately than the original location. I think we tend to forget just how small and low the Elio is. Since Elio bailed on coming to the Texas State Fair in Dallas I've yet to see one in person, but the sort of "extended' video I saw a while back (from the Verge I think?) surprised me how short/small the Elio seemed amongst average traffic.

I daily drive an '89 Civic and even most modern "economy cars" are much taller than my old Civic. Add to the mix that the "average" car on the road today, from a pure statistical standpoint, is probably NOT a small "economy car" - even the run of the mill small/crossover SUV's would impact my Civic fairly high up in a side impact. I frequently find myself realizing when I'm behind trucks that if I were to rear-end the average pick-up truck these days that the first thing to contact the back of the truck would likely be my face on the rear bumper

So it makes perfect sense to me that the Elio, which is much shorter than even my Civic, would have a somewhat disproportionately "high" side impact beam.

 

[goofyone]

Compared to SUV's the Elio looks tiny and the fact that the P4 sits about 2.5" lower than the stock production Elio ride height also does not help us make a really good comparison simply from pictures. The truth is that height and overall width including the outrigger wheels are actually very similar to other compact to mid size cars. What makes the Elio look so much smaller is the fact that it is shorter in length and the main body is so narrow as compared to most vehicles on the road.


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[james92se]

Compared to SUV's the Elio looks tiny and the fact that the P4 sits about 2.5" lower than the stock production Elio ride height also does not help us make a really good comparison simply from pictures. The truth is that height and overall width including the outrigger wheels are actually very similar to other compact to mid size cars. What makes the Elio look so much smaller is the fact that it is shorter in length and the main body is so narrow as compared to most vehicles on the road.


[Broken External Image]

Hmm. Are there any photos of the Elio compared to another economy car or mid-size sedan where the Elio frame is not in the forefront? That can cause some inflated perspective issues. But even at that, the Elio seems just as high as that Ford and the BMW

Maybe I will have to re-find that video I referenced because I remember distinctly realizing how much smaller it was than I had previously thought, and I already thought it was fairly small anyway. Must be playing mind games on me then just due to the short and narrow body.

 

[WilliamH]

Compared to SUV's the Elio looks tiny and the fact that the P4 sits about 2.5" lower than the stock production Elio ride height also does not help us make a really good comparison simply from pictures. The truth is that height and overall width including the outrigger wheels are actually very similar to other compact to mid size cars. What makes the Elio look so much smaller is the fact that it is shorter in length and the main body is so narrow as compared to most vehicles on the road.


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G1,
Is that chassis at the top, photo #1 & 2, the new version?
Looks like the B and C pillars are the new configuration.

 

[Snick]

Its easy to be captivated by the engine dyno video...but something else revealed this week, equally as important if not more so, are the apparent improvements in the safety features of the tube chassis. The updated crash .gif shows what looks like larger and therefore stronger chassis tube cross sections and noticeably a much more robust door beam.

The new door beam is taller and relocated to top of the door right under the window which is unexplainably not in alignment with the other longitudinal chassis reinforcements. The crash .gif clearly depicts this beam in this location in that it directly reinforces the chassis in a front end collision. My concern is that the beam in this higher location is too high to do much protection in a more common side impact event, other than for a taller vehicle like a lifted truck or maybe some of the larger SUVs. The door beam seems to be in a good location for this protection though and I like it. My thinking though is that the door should have another beam lower on the door, aligning with the other horizontal chassis members to protect from side impacts from standard vehicles with bumpers in the range of 18-20" off the ground. And how about the rear passenger area with the fuel tank under the seat...it currently looks nearly completely unprotected from side impacts. I think the door beams should extend back to the passenger area to add protection to the rear seat area.

What do you think?

View attachment 5024

How is the rear passenger unprotected? There are 2 beefy verticals and 4 horizontal elements of quite close spacing. Stop adding weight for weight's sake. This isn't an SUV tank!

From my untrained eyes, I see a well thought out, deliberately designed safety cell. I think the engineers appear to have done a TON of homework, and you can't ask for a finer design from a new car company.

 

[goofyone]

G1,
Is that chassis at the top, photo #1 & 2, the new version?
Looks like the B and C pillars are the new configuration.

The top composite photo is the Orange P4 chassis and second photo is the P1/Green P2 chassis.

 

[Lil4X]

While this shot looks a little scary, remember that's an Escalade following the P4, a giant road-tank by any standards that would play havoc with a Focus or a Civic. When gas goes back to $4/gal, look for these monsters to die off like the dinosaurs after the Chicxulub event. By that time there will be more of US than there are of THEM.

 

[Ty]

Hmm. Are there any photos of the Elio compared to another economy car or mid-size sedan where the Elio frame is not in the forefront? That can cause some inflated perspective issues. But even at that, the Elio seems just as high as that Ford and the BMW

Maybe I will have to re-find that video I referenced because I remember distinctly realizing how much smaller it was than I had previously thought, and I already thought it was fairly small anyway. Must be playing mind games on me then just due to the short and narrow body.

In person and from the side, it looked as big as any Honda or Toyota car to me. From the front, it definitely looks skinnier but it is ACTUALLY quite wide. Those front tires stick out pretty good for stability. As a side bonus, if you happened to be parallel parked and forget to look before opening your door, you'll probably be safe because for someone to hit your door, they would have to be about to hit your front tire as well. So, there's that. My impression from being in and around the Elio was that pictures tend to make it look small and that in person, it was much larger than I expected. (I drive an F-350, ma 6'3 / 220lbs and wasn't bothered at all by it's size)