Production

[paravil]

I´ve been through the process of being expected to believe in virtual reality so may times in my quest for a small, urban commuter vehicle. There are still people on the Lit C-1 website who are prepared to live in that world of make believe. But not me! I´d rather be told that the Delivery model is still a figment of the team´s imagination and that the doors of the SRK are just an item that may, one day, be considered.

[Rickb]

I don't believe anything til I see it, to include the production model Base SRK, the base SRK enclosed, and the single seater Deliverator model.  However, the A Team has been and continues to be credible in doing what they say they are doing having followed the SRK'S progress since 2007.  The red and blue Gen 8's are the aha moment magic bullet prototypes.  We can actually test drive the SRK, but not the C-1 or Elio. I have big money ($100 refundable) on the line  to prove my confidence in the A Team........as do you.  My biggest issue now is which production vehicle to buy in 2017..........the SRK, the Solo, or both.

[DanCooper]

I don't believe anything until I see it, either, but some things are more believable than others.

I am least likely to believe in Elio. They have been doing a lot more hype than showing prototypes. I don't believe they can produce it for anywhere near the price they are claiming. They are hyping a really bizarre financing scheme - why would they do that? If someone can't pay up front, and can't get a loan, are they really in the market?

Electra Meccanica is taking orders (with full payment) for the Solo but they haven't started deliveries. Are they trying to finance production from preorders instead of investment? There are a lot of companies that have failed, and a lot of buyers stiffed, from that approach.

Elio and Solo are much more car-oriented than the SRK. I don't like cars. I consider them a necessary evil at best. My interest is for a vehicle that would be as much fun to drive as a motorcycle, and safer, and more energy-efficient. An enclosed cabin would be a luxury in Winter but otherwise I prefer not to have it. The SRK is the only one I have seen that matches my needs. I really hope they can stay on track to production.

[DiscjockeyDale]

I don't believe anything until I see it, either, but some things are more believable than others.

I am least likely to believe in Elio.  They have been doing a lot more hype than showing prototypes.  I don't believe they can produce it for anywhere near the price they are claiming.  They are hyping a really bizarre financing scheme - why would they do that?  If someone can't pay up front, and can't get a loan, are they really in the market?

Electra Meccanica is taking orders (with full payment) for the Solo but they haven't started deliveries.  Are they trying to finance production from preorders instead of investment?  There are a lot of companies that have failed, and a lot of buyers stiffed, from that approach.

Elio and Solo are much more car-oriented than the SRK.  I don't like cars.  I consider them a necessary evil at best.  My interest is for a vehicle that would be as much fun to drive as a motorcycle, and safer, and more energy-efficient.  An enclosed cabin would be a luxury in Winter but otherwise I prefer not to have it.  The SRK is the only one I have seen that matches my needs.  I really hope they can stay on track to production.

Dan,
Electra Meccanica only asks for a $250 totally refundable deposit for a Solo reservation. Nope. That's certainly not going to affect their financial standing. They're not trying to finance production from the small amount of refundable deposits that they collect, nor do they need to. They've looked for, and found, their investors. They're having an open house of their production facility expansion on Friday the 14th. They sold their first production Solo September 10th and they're now in the process of Canadian and US compliance certification. The information that I've gotten indicates to me that Canadian certification should be achieved before December, with US certification soon to follow that. All road vehicles, MC or Automobile, have to be certified before the buyers can legally drive them on the individual certifying country's roads.

Just don't want to start any rumors

[DanCooper]

OK, I couldn't find that information online. I hope they can make it. And Elio, and Lit (a fascinating concept but I think the technology is unnecessarily complex and unproven). For a long time we heard about electric cars, but it has only been in the last few years that the market started to open up. Now there are a lot of electric car choices. I hope it is time now for the market to open up for smaller, more specialized vehicles.

[DiscjockeyDale]

http://www.soloowners.net/showthread.php?tid=100 

[paravil]

Dan, I agree totally. The introduction of electric cars has been dominated by ever larger and more powerful, expensive vehicles. Manufacturers have come up with prototypes, but have shown little interest in marketing smaller, innovative urban commuter vehicles and have left this sector to vulnerable start-ups. If they can prove success, I am certain that larger car manufacturers will then move in. Maybe it´s now time for the motorcycle industry to come up with a new product; they already make tilting quads, so it shouldn´t be too difficult to make an enclosed, tilting two seater.

[DanCooper]

It is fun to carve a turn on a motorcycle, but that is because it is the nature of a 2-wheeled machine. With 3 or 4 wheels, a wide enough track, and a low enough CG, I see no need for tilting. For me the advantage of 3 or more wheels is not to worry about going down on a slick patch. Enclosing it just takes away some of the fun of a motorcycle. An open design with roll bars, like the SRK, seems ideal to me.

---

Have you seen the new BMW concept motorcycle?
https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/12/bmws-m...o-ride-it/

It seems to be a rip-off of the Lit C-1 concept. They are hyping the safety idea. That is nuts. Most accidents happen when a car turns in front of you or runs into you or you run off the road. It won't do anything to protect you in those situations.

[paravil]

Dan, .... from someone who lives just down the road from the Berlin BMW factory: this is just a mock-up. Neither BMW nor Lit have, as yet, been able to demonstrate that they can replicate the actions of a two-wheeled vehicle rider in anything but a straight line. Neither their computer models, nor the BMW `flexible´ frame have any connection with reality. The BMW `Clever´ concept was the nearest thing to what we´re looking for, and was relegated to the company museum, as the designers had not understood the necessity for `counter steering´ when initiating a turn.

[Rickb]

No on BMW, but The Carver Technology engineers understand it.