Alternative concepts for narrow and tilting vehicles!

Because of the negative impacts on the environment caused by increasing mobility, European funding has been made available to develop a new vehicle that will both reduce pollution and ease traffic congestion.
he Clever (compact low-emission vehicle for urban transport) collaborative project has E2.25million (£1.5million) to develop the concept and build a prototype by the end of 2005 (Fig.1). Nine European partners are involved, including the Centre for Power Transmission and Motion Control at the UK's University of Bath, BMW, GE Plastics, the Institut Francais du Petrole, and WEH of Germany.It has been decided to work on a three-wheeled, fully-enclosed, tilting vehicle that will carry two people in tandem. The vehicle controls the amount of tilt automatically using electronics to drive a hydraulic system.To keep emissions low, the Clever vehicle uses a Rotax engine the same as the BMWC1 scooter, but with the capacity increased to 218cc and a conversion performed by the Institut Francais du Petrole to enable it to run on compressed natural gas (CNG). It is intended that customers will be able to either refill the twin 6-litre gas cylinders at filling stations that have the necessary facilities, or exchange cylinders at shops or at home. The carbon fibre gas cylinders, valves and connectors are being supplied by WEH Gas Technology and are derived from products used within breathing apparatus. The target is to build a vehicle with a range of 180km, though recent estimates show that this is unlikely to be achieved. Nonetheless, fuel consumption is predicted to be the equivalent of 1.51litres/100km (188mpg) with petrol.Several other narrow vehicles are also already available or exist as concepts. The Vandenbrink Carver is a three-wheeled tilting vehicle that carries a driver and passenger (Fig.2). A detachable hardtop means that the occupants can either be fully enclosed or enjoy the fresh air while still protected by roll hoops. An acceleration of 0-100km/h in 8.2 seconds and a top speed of 180km/h are said to make it feel sporting. The engine, transmission and rear suspension are mounted in a tubular steel frame connected by a double hinge design to the front part of the body, the tilting of which is controlled by a pair of hydraulic cylinders.In Switzerland, sidecar manufacturer Armec has built a prototype three-wheeled, tilting single-seater. This vehicle, however, uses a small scooter engine to drive the front wheel, giving a fuel consumption of around 2.5litres/100km, but performance is unlikely to match that of some other narrow vehicles.Moving up-market from this, Mercedes unveiled the F300 Life Jet concept at the 1997 Frankfurt motor show, designed to combine the performance of a sports car with the comfort of a compact saloon and the cornering dynamics of a motorcycle. This vehicle has two front wheels mounted on exposed wishbones and a single driven rear wheel. Doors provide access to tandem seats, and the two roof sections can be removed for open-air motoring. Not particularly narrow, the F300 features a 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine and an electro-hydraulically controlled five-speed manual gearbox with sequential selection.