The Elio: An Eco-Friendly, Revolutionary 3-Wheeled Vehicle Hits The Road.

It's green, It's lean. It's got three wheels and can be ordered now. Introducing the Elio.




Founded in 2008 by Mr. Paul Elio, Elio Motors set out to provide affordable transportation to those commuters seeking an alternative while providing vital American jobs.

The result is a street legal three wheeled environmentally friendly vehicle that goes from 0-60 in under 9.6 seconds and gets 84 miles to the gallon. For students, the vehicle provides a safe and reliable means to commute around campus. For those families with mini-vans or SUV’s, Elio provides an efficient and economical way to get to and from work. The price-point of the vehicle ($6800 USD) allows Elio to be an addition to a family's fleet without adding any additional cost to an already stretched budget.



Features:
• 84 Miles per Gallon
It gets 84 miles to the gallon on the highway. That means you can go from Detroit to New York City on a tank of gas – or drive from Shreveport LA to Dallas and back – then back to Dallas again – and still have about 110 miles left before a refill.



• 8-Gallon Tank:
It can go 672 miles, or thereabouts, because it has an 8-gallon tank and 8X84=672. Of course, other factors will affect your mileage.



• Eco-Friendly:
It gets 84 MPG on the highway, but you’ll be doing your share of city driving, too. With its city rate of 49 MPG, you’ll be consuming only 1/3 of what the average American vehicle consumes.

• Transmission:
5-speed manual or automatic. And yes, it has a reverse gear.

• Power:
An inline, 3 cylinder, .9 liter, 55 HP, fuel-injected, SOHC gas-powered, liquid-cooled, automotive engine. Top speed is in excess of 100 MPH, and the 0-60 speed is under 9.6 seconds.



• Traction:
The engine is in the front and it is a front-wheel-drive vehicle. With a low center of gravity and weight towards the front, you’ll get great traction action – even in the snow.

• Suspension:
The Elio is built on an independent suspension with unequal length control arms, coil-over-spring and shock in the front and mono-shock with coil-over-spring and shock in the rear. The ground clearance is 5.75″ — similar to most of the passenger vehicles you see on the road today.

• Brakes:
3-wheel disc brakes with the Anti-Lock Braking System on 15″ wheels.



• Safety:
Each Elio comes equipped with a Safety Management System that includes three airbags – a reinforced roll-cage frame, Anti-Lock Braking System, and 50% larger crush zones than similar vehicles. Preliminary safety tests on computer models anticipate a 5-Star safety rating.

• Quiet:
The body panels are made of a composite (which is more sound deadening than steel) and attached to a tight, solid body that doesn’t have a lot of moving (read squeaky) parts. These two design features help keep outside noise from getting into the cockpit and getting in the way of your favorite tunes playing on our AM/FM radio (that’s standard).

• Space:
The trunk space will be at least 27″ x 14″ x 10″, enough for an airline carry-on bag or a golf bag with the rear seat down (47″+).



Exterior Specs:
Overall Length: 160.5″
Overall Height: 54.2″
Front Wheel Track: 66.8″ (center rim to center rim)
Wheelbase: 110″ (center of front wheels to center of rear wheel)



Interior Specs:
Headroom: Driver 39.8 Passenger 36.4 in
Seat width: Driver 20.6 Passenger 25.3 in
Interior Shoulder Width: 26.8 in
Front seat Legroom: 42.7 in
Rear seat Legroom: 33.1 in

Comfort:
Elio has been designed to fit 95% of all people, whether it be a 6’8″ former college basketball player, a 6’3″ 365 lb man or a 5’0″ petite woman.



American Made = American Jobs
It should come as no surprise that Elio will create a number of much-needed jobs for American workers. The company is estimating 1,500 jobs at their Shreveport, LA plant beginning in 2014.

Price:
It only costs $6,800. That’s about what you would pay for an outboard motor to power a rowboat.

Warranty:
The Elio comes standard with a 3 year/36000 mile warranty.



When you own an Elio, you’re not just a customer, you’re part of a family. So we’re not going to lure you in with that $6,800 low price, only to mention things like A/C and an AM/FM radio are extra. They’re not. You get those items plus heater, defrost, the three airbags, power windows and door lock, seat belts, tempered glass, and windshield wiper at no extra cost.


Learn more and/or pre-order the Elio here

The Evomobil. Ora-ïto Collaborates With Citroën For An Imaginative Vehicle.

above photos by Romina Shama

Evo Citroën - The Evomobil



Paris, France, April 2011 — Cit­roën has al­ways been con­sid­ered as the most in­­no­­vat­ing brand of the car in­­­dus­try. The brand has cre­at­ed some of the most sym­bolic cars be­­come the clas­sics as the DS. The lo­­go is al­­so an in­­sti­­tu­­tion.



Af­ter more than 3 years of col­lab­o­ra­­tion with Cit­roën on the de­vel­op­­ment of ar­chi­tec­­tu­ral pro­­jects, Ora-ïto turned to the man­u­­fac­­tur­er to de­vel­op his first ar­tis­tic pro­­ject. The icon­o­­clas­tic artist wasn’t dream­ing about another con­­cept car but a ge­net­ic tran­s­­for­­ma­­tion. An un­u­­su­al cre­a­­tion re­u­nit­ing more than 400 years of his­­to­ry, a re­flec­­tion on the evo­lu­­tion of the mo­­bil­i­­ty and the le­g­endary know-how of Cit­roën.



The ge­net­ic tran­s­­for­­ma­­tion is a fact re­­sult­ing from er­rors of copies dur­ing the cel­lu­lar di­vi­­sion. When they are caused by in­­ter­ven­­tions, they be­­come ex­tre­me­­ly rare. The monu­­men­­tal sculp­­ture cre­at­ed by Ora-ïto is the cross­ing of two ty­polo­­gies, a ma­­chine of the past and a cur­rent car, a sub­­­tle his­­toric and so­­ci­o­log­i­­cal tes­ti­­mony on the func­­tio­n­al mo­­bil­i­­ty of the XVI Th cen­­tu­ry mixed to the mod­­ern world.



On the edge of the hy­poth­e­­sis and the con­tem­po­rary art, this hy­brid ob­­ject is based on the ful­­fil­l­­ment of child’s dream with an ob­vi­ous com­mit­­ment for the ecol­o­­gy. In the vo­­cab­u­lary of Ora-ïto, we find a re­al as­ser­­tion ex­­press­ing and re­al­iz­ing the imag­i­­na­­tion.



This cre­a­­tion be­­comes by de­f­i­ni­­tion a vi­­sion in op­po­si­­tion with the ag­­gres­­sive uni­­verse of the car in­­­dus­try. In­­spired by the first Cit­roën car and based on his de­sign­er’s com­pe­­tences, Ora-ïto won­ders about the er­­go­­nomics of the in­­te­ri­or of the first mo­­bile mo­d­ule. He has worked on the codes, the DNA and the phi­lo­­so­­phy of this in­­­dus­try to mod­­ern­ize it with the pos­si­­bil­i­ties and the ex­ist­ing tech­nolo­­gies. As­­so­­ci­at­ed to the re­search and in­­no­­va­­tion de­­part­­ment of the dy­­nas­tic Cit­roën, he has de­vel­oped a sur­pris­ing and un­ex­pec­t­ed sculp­­ture join­ing all the pa­ram­e­ters and the tech­nolo­­gies ap­pro­pri­ate for the uni­­verse car man­u­­fac­­tur­ers, part­n­er of the in­­ter­­na­­tio­n­al fair of con­tem­po­rary art of Paris (FI­AC).





Bap­­tized “Evo­­mo­­bil” he cre­ates a mono­­typ­ic kind, which pos­sess­es on­­ly sin­­gle spe­­cie. The term “ge­net­ic tran­s­­for­­ma­­tion” is used to in­­di­­cate an ir­re­v­er­si­ble mod­­i­­fi­­ca­­tion of the ge­net­ic and hered­i­­tary in­­­for­­ma­­tion. If the tran­s­­for­­ma­­tion ar­rives up to cells then, it is passed on to the de­s­­cen­­dants of the mu­­tant in­­di­vi­d­u­al. This change can get a se­lec­­tive ad­­van­­tage. This is the base of the pro­cess of the evo­lu­­tion.




Ora-ïto has na­t­u­ral­­ly imagined others mo­d­ules to join the in­i­­tial pro­­ject. A con­t­i­nu­i­­ty of the imag­i­­na­­tion al­low­ing to mul­ti­p­­ly new ac­­tions and us­es of “Evo­­mo­­bil” as car op­­tions. He has named this “plugs” which are in­­de­pen­­dent and can be con­nec­t­ed on the front and the back of the ve­hi­­cle. In case, sev­er­al ge­net­ic tran­s­­for­­ma­­tions com­bine, we can say they share a com­­mon an­ces­­tral ge­net­ic pool. Ev­ery pod is orig­i­­nal and unique as a sculp­­ture that al­lies the dream to the for­­mal, the past to the tech­nol­o­­gy. The idea to work sev­er­al en­ti­ties al­lows all the “ge­net­ic tran­s­­for­­ma­­tions “ to spread an uni­ver­sal mes­sage on the evo­lu­­tion of the mo­­bil­i­­ty and gives to the car in­­­dus­try new di­rec­­tions nev­er in­­vesti­­gat­ed.


above: ORA-ÏTO is the la­bel and the name of the French de­sign­er who cre­at­ed, at the age of 19 the very first vir­tu­al brand.

Ora-Ito
Citroen

Two New Takes On Transport: The Monotracer & The Go One

Two fabulous, enclosed single person vehicles, one powered by an engine, the other powered by a human. Vast price differences, but both are beautifully designed, aerodynamic and unique, to say the least.

For those who have more money to spend, the Peraves MonoTracer and EcoMobiles:



The remarkable MonoTracer and EcoTracers, fit right into the growing trend of ‘motorcycles’ with more than two wheels, and is on track for going into production. The MonoTracer is currently being shown at the Geneva Automobile Salon, and the Switzerland-based Peraves say they will ramp up their production facilities to manufacture up to 100 units of this vehicle in 2009.


above: Shown in Lukmanier Gold, one of several colors in which the enclosed motorcycle is available.

The Peraves MonoTracer features a self-supporting composite-monocoque chassis that’s made of kevlar and carbon fiber, bonded with epoxy-resin and reinforced with aluminum crash and roll bars. The suspension is comprised of a 50mm USD Marzocchi fork up front, and Monolever swingarm at the back.

Peraves have used the BMW K1200R’s liquid-cooled, 16-valve, 1171cc, 130bhp inline-four in the MonoTracer. The engine drives the rear wheel via BMW’s shaft-drive system and the gearbox is a sequential, manual-shift, four-speed (plus one reverse) unit. An automatic clutch is optional.
Source for above technical info: fasterandfaster.net




The MonoTracer furnishes its driver (and one passenger) with such luxuries as air-conditioning and windshield wipers, plus the safety of a cockpit made from Kevlar and carbon fiber and reinforced with an aluminum roll cage. The MonoTracer is also energy-efficient: its BMW engine, which goes from zero to 62 m.p.h. in 4.8 sec. (100 km/h), gets about 65 m.p.g. (28 km/L).

But don't expect to see packs of them on the road anytime soon. Peraves intends to build just 100 of the $81,000. machines, and owners will have to attend a training course. In Switzerland.









Learn pricing, options and more at the MonoTracer site here.




There are many various versions of the Mono or EcoTracer; a variants of the MonoTracer with different sized BMW engines. The Standard Eco, The Super Turbo Eco, and the Turbo Mono Eco. All are composite monocoque construction. See the ECO Mobile site for technical details and specs.

For those who would prefer to spend approximately one tenth the cost of the above vehicle, how about a Go One?



The Go One:
The Go One is significantly cheaper that the Peraves MonoTracer and EcoTracers. At around $7,800.oo it's based on a trike design, so it's powered by humans rather than an engine. A velomobile, it's great for the environment, not to mention for your fitness.

According to their site, there are only 13 registered in the US and according to factory records, 50 have been produced in Europe.






Yellow, white and red are the factory standard colors.





Non standard colors can be selected from their RAL color chart. There is a premium charge for the specialty colors from which there are 210 to choose.

There is an option to add an electrical assist motor, which can then propel you to 20 mph. And when the battery in the assist motor is depleted, you can recharge it by manual pedaling.





With the go-one, you pedal in a fully recumbant position, are protected from environmental elements, and it can be purchased with or without the rear canopy. It can also be purchased as kit (shown below) as opposed to fully assembled- though they recommend against that for various legal emissions reasons.


They are also looking for dealers or 'agents'. To learn more, please visit the Go One site here.

If you like modern transportation design, don't miss these:
• Ben Gulak's Uno
• The icon A5, amphibious aircraft