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The Clever – Compact Low Emission Vehicle
Note this not a joke – well not yet! The Compact Low Emission Vehicle cost £1.5 million to design and build. Will it be too Clever for it’s own good, like Sir Clive Sinclair’s C5? Alternatively could it be from the long line of great British invention that is improved by other nationalities, for example the Hover Craft.
Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport
British scientists have developed what could be a congestion-busting answer to city traffic. The Clever – Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport – is a cross between a car and a motorbike. It has a top speed of 60mph, runs on compressed gas and will do the equivalent of 108 miles per gallon of petrol. The two-seater uses a novel tilting chassis and is the result of a 40-month project by researchers in nine European countries. The three-year, £1.5m EU-funded research project aimed to produce a totally different class of private motor vehicle specifically designed for the urban environment.
‘The only solutions at the moment are motorbikes or cars, ‘said Ben Drew, a research officer at the University of Bath, one of the institutions involved in the project.’ The idea is to try to marry the small size and efficiency of a motorcycle with the comfort and safety of a standard car, ‘he said.
Unlike the prototype, the finished version will have a roof and at just over a metre wide will be even narrower than a Smart car.
Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport
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