This feels like Christmas for three-wheelers. Elio Motors, the company founded in 2009 by auto enthusiast Paul Elio and which has been promising a revolutionary autocycle since 2012, is back in the headlines. This time, with an electric three-wheeler.
Elio Motors prides itself of having been founded with the vision to create the ultimate affordable city car. Investors, buyers and people who generally rooted for it would rather describe it as a crusher of dreams, since it’s been promising that vehicle since 2012 and, to date, it is still not here. In recent months, Elio has gone completely blank in terms of details on the updated timeline.
That’s because it’s been working on something else, and hopefully this one sticks: an electric version of this revolutionary car that was never delivered.
It’s called the Elio-E, and the old model has been renamed the Elio-G (whereas the “G” stands for “gasoline”). Elio-E is fully electric and integrates all the promised features on the Elio-G, like safety features, enclosed body, cruise control, AC, power windows and power locks. Most importantly, it will carry on the company’s pledge to deliver an affordable city car.
The Elio-E will come with a price tag of just $14,900, which will make it the “most affordable entry-level electric vehicle on the market,” according to the official statement. That may be true, but only if it actually goes into production. This is exactly what fuels the wave of online skepticism the announcement has been met with: making promises is not difficult, but taking a prototype into production is, and Elio has already shown that with the ICE version of the three-wheeler. Like the boy who cried wolf, Elio lacks credibility after a decade of empty promises.
“We never quit working to make this dream happen,” Paul Elio, CEO of Elio Motors, insists in a statement. “The market has changed, and investors and consumers are looking for innovative, environmentally conscious, low cost electric vehicles, and we have a great option that will appeal to a very large under-served market.”
First to market will be the Elio-E, and the Elio-G will follow suit, should there be demand for it. According to the same statement, interest already exists: the gasoline version has over 65,000 pre-orders. Elio Motors will establish its first manufacturing site will in Shreveport, Louisiana for both models.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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