Last Friday I spent about 80 miles (Birmingham to Cambridge) traveling in the company of a curious looking three wheeled machine. At one point (roadworks it seems do have their uses) I was able to make out the stylised silver writing on the back, and later, a little Internet searching revealed the machine to be a Carver1 by Dutch builders Vandenbrink.
An even lighter, more advanced concept can be found at CLEVER, a design concept with groups such as BMW, the University of Bath and Avon Tyres taking part. More geared to commuting (lower speeds and shorter range) I really think these are the kind of machines that the government should be subsidising (or encouraging mass-manufacture) to reduce the price1 from sportscar to sensible commuter.
The environmental benefits are also notable; the Carver has only a 660cc engine and although it is similarly sized to my Clio, there is about 400kg less stuff used to make it.









the article was very interesting, i think i probably would ride something other than a weird looking car eighty miles but thats just me.
[…] BMW’s three-wheeled concept has yielded working vehicles. An equivalent of 188mpg is impressive but I think it is a big mistake to have a top speed of just 50mph. If you can’t take it safely on a motorway I can see a lot of people looking elsewhere. […]
The carver has been commercially developed - the clever has had a huge EU grant to develop essentially the same tilting technology which had already been demonstrated in the Carver. Pure waste of EU Funds - it’ll never seen production.