the coefficient of drag depends on frontal area (projection
of the cross-section to air coming from the front) and on the
shape of the thing confronting the air. . smaller area and
more-like-teardrop shapes make for smaller drag numbers.
a car with a 100 horsepower engine is nothing special,
but a motorcycle with a 100 horsepower engine is able
to move along pretty well. . lighter weight, smaller
frontal area, more-like-teardrop shape = efficiency!
and, yes, the govt is In The Way!!! -- j
.

Damn. I thought I was going to get another great johnpe story out of that photo.

Your explanation of why the open-wheel design was used makes sense - putting the wheels further apart gives greater stability, but if you encased them you would increase the drag. I had to dodge some big tumbleweeds during the last windstorm, and I keep imagining what great tumbleweed-catchers those struts would make.

I am quite delighted to hear of these innovative designs. I think that there would be a ton of them on the market if the gov had not bailed GM out.

Jan

oooooohhhh,,, well, I just drool over these things. . as a
mechanical engineer, the design and fabrication, testing
and driving of these cars is intriguing to me. . I just grabbed
a photo for an example of "open-wheel" design. . these cars
can use moderate power and go very fast because
they are tiny and have great streamlining. -- j
.

you: In it? Built it?

Please tell more.

Jan

We've been on board with Elio since the start, and while I'd agree that it's taking a lot longer than we'd like, I'd far rather wait for (and see) long-term success than the sort of flash-in-the-pan burnout we saw with the Delorean and others trying to break into this extraordinarily difficult market.

they were probably trying to reduce the frontal area
of the vehicle, to reduce drag. . like indianapolis racers,
whose "coefficient of drag" is very low.

I hope that this company makes it, but doubt that
these parameters will be satisfied -- 84mpg and
$6800 price. -- j

p.s. indy racer photo::: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=i...
.

Neat little vehicle. I like to see people constructing something new.

I did not see an explanation of why the front wheels were on open struts like that...great for catching tumbleweeds...

Jan

it's kinda like the tesla whole-house battery -- watch out! -- j
.

fun for the whole family, as long as there are only
two of you, plus a ghetto dog at most! -- j
.

Here's a great one!
http://www.21stcenturymotoring.com/
And another
http://www.scorpionmotorsports.com/
and a Whole bunch more!
http://www.slingmods.com/blog/polaris...

Lots-o-Fun!

I started out a fan of this company, but have become disillusioned as I watched it become a money pit. Instead of taking advantage of the design being considered a motorcycle, and starting small, building a bootstrap, self-funded organization, this project has sucked up almost half a billion dollars of big investor money, and is now trying to draw in gullible small, inexperienced investors. The intent may not have originally have been a scam, but when it fails to launch as expected, the effect will be the same.

now, that's neat -- crawl into a parallel dimension and
hide from the looters!!! -- j
.

Salient feature is that it can be used as an infinite trunk/portable home ;^)

tardis? . looked it up ... time and relative dimension in space?
very interesting -- time travel ! -- j
.

A dry, quiet, comfortable low-performance motorcycle? No wind in your hair; no bugs in your teeth.
Just needs a tardis sidecar.