Where's The Beef?

[Trusting]

Elio Motors says they are building their 25 prototypes for testing. Wouldn't it be nice if they posted weekly updates (with photos) so we could all see the progress?

 

[Bilbo B]

Even a statement that they were in process would be positive. This has been confusing to me for a while now. The intent of the Crowd Funding money is to build the 25 E vehicles. They certainly don't have that funding yet, which could imply they haven't started building them yet (or procuring parts for them? Some will require engines and I'd think those will take some time to build). At one time they implied they were going to be started before the P5 was finished, following it through the process. If they haven't started the E's yet, the chances they'll get built and tested and the design refined on time for late 2016 production would seem to get lower and lower every day. That's me being a pessimist, I guess.

 

[JEBar]

some P5 pictures have been released .... in at least one some of our sharper eyed members reported seen additional frames .... EM has stated they have the money in house for the P5 and to begin the E series .... they are close to starting the collection of $25M+ which will fund the rest of the E series .... things are moving, granted not as fast as we would like but moving nonetheless

 

[Trusting]

some P5 pictures have been released .... in at least one some of our sharper eyed members reported seen additional frames .... EM has stated they have the money in house for the P5 and to begin the E series .... they are close to starting the collection of $25M+ which will fund the rest of the E series .... things are moving, granted not as fast as we would like but moving nonetheless

With the majority of the parts coming right off the shelf, I doubt it will cost any where near $25,000,000 to build 25 cars. I guess they will have to hand build the frames, but after the first one is complete the rest should go fairly quickly.... same with the engines. Most of the rest is just sticking parts together. With all the money they have already collected I would have thought there would be no problem.

 

[Rickb]

Let us take this one step at a time. EM announced the completed P5 Build reveal at the LA Auto Show in November. If the P5 delays then go crazy with speculation about the P and E builds. Photos say that work is under way and it's likely to be completed on schedule.

It's premature to be pessimistic about the new era overpriced P5-E26 builds, but the prototype builders have to make a living too.

 

[JEBar]

With the majority of the parts coming right off the shelf, I doubt it will cost any where near $25,000,000 to build 25 cars. I guess they will have to hand build the frames, but after the first one is complete the rest should go fairly quickly.... same with the engines. Most of the rest is just sticking parts together. With all the money they have already collected I would have thought there would be no problem.

it has been speculated that the money will go for much more than building the trikes .... it will be also spent on the wide range of crash and other testing that has to go on .... paying the companies to create manufacturing capability for producing brand specific parts .... and so on

 

[Elio Amazed]

I was frustrated with how slow the progress seemed to be going.
Then a forum member said something about why the "garage" looked so messy.

He said that it may be messy because the crew may be under the pressure of a November unveiling.

I had a rare moment of clarity and did an instant about-face.

According to EM, they're not just figuring out how to connect everything...
They're gathering a great deal of knowledge that will be used to tool the line.
And I say let them get as much out of the P5 build as they possibly can.
As has been said, doing that will save a lot of time and effort down the road.

I don't want a tech spilling an open 2-litre bottle of Coke onto the only existing on-board computer!