Seriously? You Have To Provide Your Own Water Bottle For The Windshield Washer?

[PJ]

K.I.S.S great idea no more half empty bottle laying around .( Keep it simple stupid)

 

[Jeff Miller]

IMO the safe way would be to put the reservoir in there. It won't cost them, it will cost the buyer......about $2 extra dollars. What is that when you are spending almost $7k on something.

I once had it explained to me very nicely what "it only costs the buyer X" really means. If you switch your head around from consumer to producer and then look at huge quantities you are talking about some significant money. If Elio Motors saves $2 a car and makes 250,000 a year that is a cool half million $$$$s.

We just read in the blogs how Paul himself walks around the car pointing at places to save a buck or even a few pennies. Although some of this is about trying to keep cost to the consumer at $6800 it is also more likely about significantly reducing production costs as this thing scales.

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

I lived in PA, if you're getting road spray, you're driving too close, and I never had bug problems up there. Down in Ga and FL however your windshield can become solid bug guts in a matter of seconds though.

 

[Lil4X]

Anywhere near the Gulf Coast you'll find our local "love bugs" . . . so named because . . . well . . . er,
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They fly slowly, seem almost unable to gain altitude, and infest lowlands where they swarm morning and evening in the still air. Not only do they make a mess, the acidic content of their little carcasses will eat your paint if you don't remove them within about 12 hours.

Windshield washers just aren't enough, I use Rain-X on the glass and headlights and make a point of visiting a coin-op carwash before retiring for the night to peel off the day's collection.

The Texas coast has a real problem with our "love bugs".
I wonder if one of these would fit under the hood?

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[Edward]

So a water bottle as the reservoir is currently "the best they can". Yes the first of anything always tends to be the worst.

I think if/when it gets built, there will be a reservoir. It isn't a hard part, rare part, expensive to make. Just find a supplier who is already making a mass amount of ones of a different car and put them on the Elio....Probably wouldn't even cost them $1 to add on.

Just my opinion. Everyone has them. I just think the water bottle thing is hear say. Again, it wouldn't bother me at all if they used it, but I just think it would possibly turn potential buyers off.

According to the post it is $8. Doesn't sound like much, but Paul Elio sounds like an efficiency expert type of engineer, looking to shave off a buck here and a buck there to keep the costs down.

I lived in PA, if you're getting road spray, you're driving too close, and I never had bug problems up there. Down in Ga and FL however your windshield can become solid bug guts in a matter of seconds though.

Out in Colorado, it doesn't matter how far from traffic you are. I've gone down the road at 3am with no-one else in sight, the salt and ice just hangs in the air it seems.

 

[saint451]

Here is the question to be answered, does the Elio come with a filled jug from the dealer(Elio), if so you now have a built in reservoir.
If not, buy one with your favorite bug/windshield elixir and now you have a permanent reservoir.
Or almost last but not least, there are plenty of one gallon jugs (with same threads for screw lid) that have had many different liquids in it, rinse it out, install and now you have a free reservoir.
Or again, someone will make a fancy aftermarket reservoir (25-30 dollars) and you can install it when it comes.
I want the base price of $6800 with great safety, excellent reliability, and the best fuel mileage.

 

[CheeseheadEarl]

I lived in PA, if you're getting road spray, you're driving too close, and I never had bug problems up there. Down in Ga and FL however your windshield can become solid bug guts in a matter of seconds though.

My commute is almost all 2 lane. Plenty of spray from oncoming traffic. Kinda hard not to be "too close" on a rural road with these on the side:

 

[Horn]

According to the post it is $8. Doesn't sound like much, but Paul Elio sounds like an efficiency expert type of engineer, looking to shave off a buck here and a buck there to keep the costs down.

A post from an average person on here? or a post from Elio? I doubt it would cost them $8 over time. Now this all depends on how many they buy.

I just think it would look cheap to many potential buyers and they would shy away. Appearance is huge to the average consumer.

Lets say instead of $6800 you are charged $6880 for it. Many potential customers wouldn't give much thought to it. That $80 extra could be to small appearance upgrades that you nor I would never know about. I understand he wants to keep it low.

 

[Horn]

I once had it explained to me very nicely what "it only costs the buyer X" really means. If you switch your head around from consumer to producer and then look at huge quantities you are talking about some significant money. If Elio Motors saves $2 a car and makes 250,000 a year that is a cool half million $$$$s.

You can switch it that way, but usually increases in production costs often get pushed down to the consumers.

If we go with your example, lets say that the car actually has items that ring the car to $7500 instead of $6800....Do you really think Elio is going to eat that $700....nope.

Again, it all comes down to image. I believe one of Elio's demographics are college kids. I just graduated college and a significant majority of them are worried about looks......That's why they spend $60 on a hollister shirt when they could get about the same thing at JC Penny for $10. That is why you see many wearing "Beats by Dre" headphones. It is "cool" and makes them look cool (in their head). I AM NOT SAYING THIS IS RIGHT!.....but I know several of those kids would almost scoff at the idea of no reservoir.

Now lets say they do eat the $2 per car. I think they would be happy doing that if that meant they would several several more thousand cars. Think of when Netflix had to pay more in costs due to movie and tv rights (whatever you want to call it). They increased or planned on increasing their price quite a bit and got a backlash from it. They lost several customers over it and decided to eat some of the costs since they were going to lose more from the customers. There is a fine line on how much of the costs.

Lets say it is $8 as mentioned by someone.....that is a little over one tenth of one percent of 6800. You wouldn't notice that with any other item if it was pushed down to you.

I like any company that cuts costs, sometimes though the costs can be so little yet have horrible results. Again, if/when it is made, it will not have a water bottle type IMO.

 

[Craig]

A post from an average person on here? or a post from Elio? I doubt it would cost them $8 over time. Now this all depends on how many they buy.

I just think it would look cheap to many potential buyers and they would shy away. Appearance is huge to the average consumer.

Lets say instead of $6800 you are charged $6880 for it. Many potential customers wouldn't give much thought to it. That $80 extra could be to small appearance upgrades that you nor I would never know about. I understand he wants to keep it low.

I just think it would look cheap to many potential buyers and they would shy away. Appearance is huge to the average consumer.

I know, that was the first thing I looked for when I bought my new Sonic.o_O