Vehicle Options While Waiting For Your Elio

[Gas-Powered Awesome]

[...] My commute is 110 miles, almost totally FLAT along the shore of Lake Huron. So battery shouldn't make much difference anyway right? [...] I guess I expect the battery in my laptop to only last so long, so likewise the same lithium-ion tech in a car.

Batteries in Insight and Prius are nickel-metal hydride, not lithium-ion. Li-Io is only found in cars like Tesla, Volt, and Leaf.

I don't think the Prius will run without the hybrid battery, the Insight will.

Anecdotal information from Insight Central makes me think the manual gen 1 Insight can easily get 50+ MPG without the hybrid battery or trying very hard. With a commute that long, the pack removed/bypassed, and some practice getting it into lean-burn, I expect you could match or best that. Note I don't have any personal experience doing any of that, however. Caveat Emptor.

http://www.insightcentral.net/forum...cussion/22504-what-your-best-mpg-w-o-ima.html

 

[123tony321]

I'll just keep my 2003 Honda Element running for another year - knock on wood - actually it has been a fantastic car - never had to take it back to the dealer after driving it out for anything. Believe it or not - never had an alignment in 160,000 miles - and the tires wear evenly across the tread - only on the second battery - changed the brake pads once.

 

[outsydthebox]

With a minimum of test equipment it shouldn't be too difficult, but you'd have to find a supplier of replacement cells for a reasonable price. Then there is the matter of having DEA Jack-boots on your door-mat when you show up in the system buying any quantity of lithium-ion cells.

Nickel Metal Hydride Batteries are dirt cheap and easy to get.

 

[Snick]

I'm just gonna indulge my inner math-nerd for a second, and hope you don't mind, BUT....
For the Insight to even USE, much less SAVE $3000 on a 42 mile, 60 mpg commute would take a little under 4.5 YEARS. The Elio is supposed to be about 12 months away. By my math for the Insight to pay for itself in the 12 months 'till the Elio rolls, you would have to be replacing a vehicle that gets about 9.5 miles per gallon. What the heck were you driving?!?! A semi truck gets better than that!
I'd love to be getting into the 60 mpg range though. I have a 110 mile commute, so it adds up FAST. I've just been wary of hybrids

Semi trucks (loaded) get between 5.3-7.0 mpg; but mpg is a meaningless metric for a cargo hauler. Ton*miles/gallon is far more meaningful. An 18 wheeler gets 378 ton*miles/gallon.

 

[carzes]

Semi trucks (loaded) get between 5.3-7.0 mpg; but mpg is a meaningless metric for a cargo hauler. Ton*miles/gallon is far more meaningful. An 18 wheeler gets 378 ton*miles/gallon.

Yikes, I thought they got a little better than that. So what would be in the 9.5 mpg range? I cam't think of anything. But then again I was just having a little fun with the numbers. In actuality I suppose I could have insisted on narrowing down the discussion to exactly what "pay for itself" means. If I buy an Elio and get over 4 times the gas mileage of my current vehicle, then it will 'pay for itself' in fuel savings versus what I would have spent using the current vehicle. In my case that would be somewhere between 2 and 3 years, depending on how nerdy you want to get with the math.
If I trade my current vehicle in for an Elio, however, even if I come out completely even on the trade, I can't really consider the Elio free can I? No, I just traded a $7k asset for another $7k asset. But then at what point does it 'pay for itself'? Well, I would say when it has saved the equivalent cost of the asset you traded for it, so really it makes no difference from a return on investment standpoint. Then, as far as residual value goes, you can't say it paid for itself unless it pays back it's own depreciation too, vs depreciation on the other vehicle, and one can go on and on and on.... I'm just not nerdy enough at 1a.m. to figure all that out. :-) Nerd Word Yo!

 

[Jambe]

Compare one vehicle to another with regard to cost of fuel. Plug in your own numbers.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/savemoney.shtml

 

[Music Man]

Nickel Metal Hydride Batteries are dirt cheap and easy to get.

Yes, don't you just love the strangle hold that "big brother" wants to have on us? Stay awake and keep a watchful eye on BB.