The race to produce ever smaller, eco-friendly cars, capable of weaving through congested city traffic, has narrowed.
Engineers at Bath University yesterday unveiled a project to build a three-wheeled, tilting micro-vehicle which is only a metre wide, has a top speed of 50mph, and runs on compressed natural gas.
The Clever (Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport) car is planning to outwit the Smart car, overtaking it as a the fashionable and environmentally less damaging way of getting about town.
The design, still at a research stage, is being funded chiefly by the EU, which has committed £1.5m to the project. Work is also being carried out by German, French and Austrian scientists.
The first prototype is not expected to be assembled until late next year. If it goes into production, the vehicle - which will "combine the safety of a car with the manoeuvrability of a motorbike" - is budgeted to cost around £6,500.
"Compressed natural gas will become more widely available here," said Ben Drew, one of the mechanical engineers working on the development at Bath University's Centre for Power Transmission and Motion Control.
"You will be able to remove the carbon fibre tank and fill it up in a shop or even from your gas supply at home. It's half a metre slimmer than a Smart car, so you should be able to weave in and out of traffic like on a motorbike." At three metres, however, it will be slightly longer than a Smart Car.
The Clever's fuel consumption is predicted to be around 188 miles per gallon, a fifth of most cars. The gull-winged vehicle will carry two people, with the passenger sitting immediately behind the driver. There is a strengthened metal frame to protect occupants against side impact.
And because it does not run on petrol or diesel, it should be exempt from congestion charges.

I like the idea of not having to give money to Ken Livingstone

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Like it says, you can fill 'er up at home

I can't get baked beans here alas

I have no idea Eno, I teach English not Chemistry, but I'll ask my sister (the evil one)

as she teaches this ghastly subject!
Actually I loved chemistry at school, I just wasn't particularly gifted at it, as the school would happily confirm after I blew myself and a chemistry lab. up A lot of enthusiasm, not to much brain

Ozzy

The problem was Craig that I'd read most of the book on making explosives, but I didn't read the chapter on safety.... And when you make a large quantity of liquid explosive that becomes highly unstable when it crystalises..... Well lets just say it took a while for my fringe and eyebrows to grow back, and I was deaf for 4 days (although this was a blessing as I couldn't hear all the abuse I was getting)!!!
Oddly enough after that my chemistry teacher really liked me, and I passed my GCSE with a B!!!
I think she just liked the fact I'd REALLY annoyed the headmaster
Teachers are brilliant within their own subject, but take them out of there and they are hopeless. I wouldn't have a clue how to teach physics (apart from the aviation related bits). As far as I'm concerned a lightbulb works by pressing the switch on the wall

I strongly suspect if you asked then at some teachers conference my name came up