BMW is adding two new motorcycle-derived automotive concept vehicles to its “Concept Vehicles” display at the BMW Museum, the Simple and the Clever. Both Simple and Clever feature ideas obtained from BMW’s experience with motorcycles and combine them with ideas from cars to create small, lightweight vehicles that achieve impressive fuel economy like a motorcycle, yet are safer.
Simple (Simple is an acronym for “A Sustainable and Innovative Mobility Product for Low Energy" consumption) is the larger of the two vehicles, but it's still a small urban vehicle at under 4 feet wide. It features the same seating configuration as a motorcycle as well as the same dynamic driving style. The concept is built to lean in turns, much like Nissan’s recently unveiled Land Glider concept, and does so under its own power. In extreme circumstances, such as low-speed cornering, Simple can use its hydraulics to prevent the vehicle from tipping.
Even though the concept drives like a motorcycle, the driver and passenger are safely contained in a lightweight, aerodynamic body that shelters them from the wind and provides protection in the event of a crash. Simple only tips the scales at around 990 pounds and achieves an extremely low drag coefficient of 0.18. This allows the vehicle to be powered by a 48-hp gasoline engine and get a claimed 118 mpg.
Clever, like Simple, is an acronym and stands for “Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport,” which refers to a research project aimed at producing a low-emission, practical city vehicle. The project was launched in 2002 in conjunction with Berlin’s Technical University. The research team certainly succeeded in developing a vehicle with low emissions: Clever emits less than 60 grams of CO2 per 100 km (62 miles) from its 230-cc CNG powered engine.
Clever is also a motorcycle-based vehicle and requires the driver and passenger to sit one in front of the other in its passenger compartment. Even though the passenger compartment weighs just 132 pounds, the concept still passes Euro NCAP safety standards for small cars.