BMW bridges the gap between car and bike: Reveals Simple Concept and re-introduces the Clever Prototype

Posted by Harvinder

October 11, 2009

It was just a couple of days ago when Nissan announced the car cum bike concept called the Land Glider that will be shown at the Tokyo Motor Show. A couple of days later, German auto maker BMW announced a new concept that belongs to the same family. The concept, along with the Clever Prototype, is being exhibited at the auto maker’s museum in Munich.

First on the list is the Simple Concept (“A sustainable and innovative mobility product for low energy consumption”) that is powered by a 48HP combustion engine and an electric motor. It is a three-wheeler and has a seating capacity of two. Measuring 110 cm wide, it has a tilting technology that tilts the passenger cell automatically. All the driver has to do is determine a change in direction for the appropriate tilt to follow automatically.

BMW also revealed that the concept only activates the hydraulics in exceptional situations, for example if the vehicle threatens to become unstable during extremely slow driving, when righting the vehicle during standstill or in situations such as ‘drifting’. Apart from these conditions, the concept rides like a motorcycle and, beyond natural gravity and gyroscopic forces, requires no energy whatsoever to lean into a corner.

The 450 kilograms Simple Concept can accelerate to 100 km/h at under 10 seconds and it can achieve a respectable top speed in excess of 200 km/h. Drag coefficient is figured at 0.18 and according to the auto maker, the Simple Concept would need just 6 kWh (equivalent to 0.7 litres of petrol) or two liters to deliver 100 km.

Next is the Clever Prototype (“Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport”) that was first presented back in 2006. The project was launched in 2002 as an initiative of Berlin’s Technical University, sponsored by the 5th Framework Programme of the EU Commission. It is also a three-wheeled vehicle that can carry two people. The prototype is driven by a single cylinder 230 cc CNG engine that is paired with a CVT transmission. CO2 emissions output is figured at 60 grams per 100 kilometers and it has a driving range of about 200 kilometers. BMW claims that it would cost two people 1 Euro to travel around 100 kilometers.

With a weight figure of under 400 kilograms, the Clever Prototype takes 7 seconds to reach 60 km/h and it will go on till it reaches a top speed of about 100 km/h. It measures 3 metres long, 1 metre wide and 1.4 metres tall and it features computer-controlled tilting. It also has a Formula 1 style main frame that weighs just over 60 kilometers. It acts like a survival cell while the front wheel and steering ensure a deformation path of some 35 centimetres to absorb sufficient energy in an the event of an impact. Continue reading to view high-res images. There is also a 2 minute 24 second-long video of the SImple Concept.