Elio is on a quest to bring a highly efficient, low-cost vehicle to market, and we saw the latest steps toward progress at the LA Auto Show this week. Most notably, this took the shape of the new P5 prototype vehicle at the Elio booth. Oh, and we saw progress in the fact that Elio is no longer down in the basement of the convention center, but in the sunlit area upstairs. As you can see, this new model is a bit sleeker and a lot more put together than the P4 version we saw in New York earlier this year. http://www.autoblog.com/2015/11/19/elio-motors-p5-trike-la-2015-video/
Hi John: I was speaking to Sebastian about this when we together at the Elio Motors Venue on Thursday morning. I was showing him the connectors and lines. The from scratch 3-cyl. is just not ready for prime time. Wayne
Wayne, can you say more about the engine, please? Did you get to sit in the front (and back?) of the P5? I hear they will be building ~24 of these P5's for road testing, and for crash testing.
Hi Neil: It is a one-off 3-cylinder built by the Elio team. A lot of screw clamps on the fuel side that will not make for a reliable long term solution. Wayne
I think they have at least 2 of the new engines - the one in the P5 (which looks rough in places) and the one on the display stand. They did a lot of dyno testing, so that is probably at least one more? They also admit to getting "just" 81.6 MPG, so the 84MPG claim will have to be dropped, I would think. http://www.autoblog.com/2015/11/19/elio-motors-p5-trike-la-2015-video/
Why will it hurt it? It is quite a bit lower drag than most vehicles, lower even than most two seat vehicles.
