ROCKMAN wrote:Pops - That's what it is actually. Called the Spyder 3 wheel motor cycle.
http://can-am.brp.com/spyder/ They appear to be just putting a shell on it. Not sure but given the have the exact same mpg rating I think they just using Spyders as the base.
That would be amazing considering the manufacturer suggested retail price for a Can-Am Spyder starts at $16,699.00 MSRP and a Can-Am Spyder only gets about 30 mpg. How do you suppose the Elio people ADD things onto a Spyder like air-conditioning and air bags, but then make it get 84 mpg and also manage to sell their car for $10,000 less then the Spyder?
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The way to get high mileage in an ICE vehicle is shrink and redesign the engine to maximize mileage while cutting the overall weight of the car to an absolute minimum. Electric cars and hybrids are actually heavy beasts because of the weight of the batteries and the regenerative braking and other extra equipment. ICE cars can be stripped and shrunk down more than is possible for EVs or PHEVs and such offerring similar performance. The Elio will go 600 miles on a tank of gas---can you imagine how many batteries you'd have to pack in an EV to make it go a similar distance?
This little ICE car is a new design, built from the ground up to improve mileage. Its not just a faring dropped on top of a scooter or a can-am. This car is built very small and designed at every level to be light to maximize mileage. Three wheels work great and weigh less---the two wheels in front provide "normal" car-like steering and one wheel in back will do the job of pushing the little thing along.
84 mpg is damn good---for comparison, my 50 cc Honda Ruckus off-road motorcycle gets about 90-100 mpg, while my 400 cc motorcycle gets about 80 mpg.