Elio Motors Dreams and Fun Facts About Our Next Rides

A Facebook post by Judie last night sparked renewed interest in the cars we pre-ordered from Elio Motors last January. Our upcoming vehicles get an amazing 84 MPG, top speeds of 100 MPH, and cost just $6800. In fact, since Judie and I each went all-in and put down a non-refundable $1000 deposit, our Elios will be just $5300!

84 MPG and 100 MPH aren’t the only fun facts about the cars. Here are a few others.

The Elio is a two-door car, but only when Judie and I have our cars parked one next to the other. Yes, this vehicle from Elio Motors has only has one door. That not really an issue, since the two seats are front to back — or inline — rather than side to side. Add in the fact that nixing the second door saves $200 per car, and there was every reason to have a single door design.

Gas up and go go go…. As noted, the Elio gets 84 MPG and has a top speed of over 100 MPH. At three times the mileage of the average car, that means that, at highway speeds, we can expect over 650 miles on a single tank. For me, that means I can leave my house and make it to Detroit, MI without needing to stop and refuel. For Judie, who lives in Texas where distances come with a capital D, it means she’ll be able to go to the stop light and back without the need of a gas station. (I kid… she’ll be able to hit the store twice on a single tank.) Okay, in all seriousness, it means she can make it to Austin and back from her front driveway, and then drive back to Austin again with gas to spare! Austin is 197.3 miles away from her home, by the way. Got methane? While we’re talking about Texas, how’s this for a fun little tidbit: thanks to burps and flatulence, a single cow produces 242 lbs. of methane in a year. Methane, it seems, traps 20 times more heat than CO2 over a 100-year period. That, in turn, means the average cow emit 4,840 lbs. of CO2 equivalent greenhouses gases in a single year. By contrast, if driven 20,000 miles, each Elio Motors vehicle will emit only 4,500 lbs. of CO2. Yes, our new cars are better for the environment than a cow …  and they smell better too!