Mygreenwheels

Here's a puzzle for EV fans. When is a 4-wheel vehicle a car and is a 3-wheel vehicle not a motorcycle? Not so easy to answer if they're EVs and I'm starting to think that maybe a three-wheeler isn't the end of my street cred.

According to the UK Department of Transport 4-wheeled EVs are quadricycles, so they're not even included on its latest list of the most environmentally friendly vehicles. The list, by the way, is reported to include some total gas-guzzlers and supercars. I guess it's a sad reflection of the apparent lack of choice we have when it comes to buying EVs in the UK. Keith at GoinGreen is understandably miffed that the G-Wiz is not listed as a car, but until EVs are ready for our motorways I guess they're going to get stuck in the quadricycle classification.

Now I've always thought that a 3-wheeler was something any red-blooded driver would shun without a second glance - just look at the Twike. (It's like something that normally has a nanny pushing from behind - I rest my case.)

Then I came upon this creature.

The Carver One has been around since the early 90s and only lately morphed into the amazing tilting three-wheeled motorcycle design that had Jenson Button grinning like a Cheshire cat in this video. A two-seat hybrid-electric version is now in planning through a company called Venture Vehicles and they're just throwing technology at it. Autobloggreen refers to it excitedly as a '100mpg three-wheeled road-going jetfighter' and they're not kidding (for one thing, you wouldn't want to be in the passenger seat in either of them).

The VentureOne (as they call it for now) seems to have more in common with a conventional car than a motorcycle - fully enclosed cabin, upright seating position, steering wheel, foot pedals and gear stick. It's actually the same length as a BMW Mini, but the driver is sitting as high off the road as in a Beemer 3-series.

The coolest thing is the way it tilts on corners. The designer says 'You steer it like a car, but when cornering it banks like a motorcycle while you feel like you're flying a jetfighter ... an exhilarating driving experience unlike any other.'

The VentureOne will be available in three configurations including the Venture d50 Hybrid Drive which has a 50 kW powertrain, the faster Venture Q100 Hybrid Drive which has a 100 kW powertrain (giving the Q100 a 120 mph / 193 km/h top speed!) and the all-electric Venture EV which has a 40 kW powertrain and reduced range, but zero emissions. With the entire vehicle weighing only 1,200 lbs / 544 kg, the VentureOne should clock in 0-60 mph in less than 8 seconds for the EV and 5 seconds for the 100 kW Hybrid Drive.

To be priced at between $18,000 for the hybrid d50 model and $23,000 for the all-electric EV model, the VentureOne is being designed for mass production of over ten thousand vehicles per year.

Most interestingly the VentureOne will meet or exceed US Federal safety standards for cars despite being officially classified as a motorcycle. We're talking steel roll-cage, collapsible steering column, side impact rails, driver's airbag, ABS and so on. This makes it an astonishing 33 times safer than a bike.

And of course, you guessed, on top of all this it's got my fave-feature - two in-wheel motors - as well as a lithium-ion battery that can recharge in only 15 minutes. So who cares if I can't get my shopping in the back? This thing is going to be such a rush to drive! I'll keep my 'quadricycle' for the shopping trips ;-)