De Friese elektrische voertuigbouwer Carver, bekend van de smalle stadsvoertuigen met unieke kanteltechnologie is een samenwerking gestart met het Britse Selfridges. In winkels in Londen, Birmingham en Manchester kunnen klanten nu de Carver testen en bestellen. Klanten die wegrijden bij het super-de-luxe warenhuis in Oxfordstreet zullen geen last hebben van de zogenaamde van de Londense Ultra Low Emission ULEZ heffing (£12,50 per dag) en de Congestion Charge (£15 per dag). Daarnaast mag de Carver in Londen gebruik maken van busbanen in Londen.
De samenwerking met Selfridges past in de strategie van Carver om het gat tussen de elektrische scooters en elektrische (bak)fietsen enerzijds en de elektrische auto’s anderzijds te vullen. Zeker in grote steden biedt de Carver een uitstekend alternatief. Bovendien is de Carver met de huidige brandstofprijzen een reële optie om op vervoerskosten te bezuinigen. Voor ongeveer €1,75 kun je tot 130 kilometers fileloos en elektrisch ‘carveren’. Zo passen de tentoongestelde Carvers perfect bij het nieuwe concept van Selfridges, genaamd Supermarket. Hierbij is een milieubewuste winkel van de toekomst bedacht met een selectie aan innovatieve en inspirerende merken, waaronder Carver.
Over Carver
The first spark
Every revolution starts with an insight and ours goes back to the nineties. The Dutch entrepreneur Anton van den Brink found himself stuck in a traffic jam in Paris. While sitting there watching the cars clogging the road he asked himself: Do we really need 2 tons of steel to get from A to B?
Less car more space
From then on Anton started to dream about a vehicle half the size and weight of a car. He envisioned a smart set of wheels with all the qualities of conventional vehicles without the downsides. It needed to be slim, fast, agile, comfortable, safe and very easy to handle.
Uniting incompatible worlds
Soon after this, a team of Dutch engineers, led by Chris van den Brink and his right-hand Harry Kroonen both aeronautical engineers, started to craft a narrow enclosed three wheeler. They challenged themselves to bring together the comfort and safety of a car with the agility and ease of a scooter.
The challenge
The big challenge of crafting an enclosed narrow vehicle (ENV) is to prevent it from toppling over when cornering. And since you’re driving in a closed cabin, you can’t use your feet for securing stability. The vehicle therefore had to balance independently.
The fix
After years of experimenting, the Carver-team discovered a magic fix: the Dynamic Vehicle Control (DVC™). This active tilting device couples the tilt angle of the vehicle directly to your driving behaviour. A smart and safe solution that sparks the sensation of flying the road.
Collectors item
The Carver One, a showcase for the DVC technology, was launched in 2003. It had a turbo charged 660 cc four-cylinder combustion engine and a top speed of 185 km/h. Despite raving reviews, it was far ahead of its time. Today it’s an exclusive collector’s item , more rare than a Porsche 918 Spyder.
Top Gear
In 2003 Top Gear got their hands on the Carver One. They immediately declared it ‘the best gadget of them all’. Jeremy Clarkson even claimed that he ‘never had so much fun in a car’. Except that it wasn’t a car, it was a Carver. The start of a mobility revolution.
Next generation
A new version of the Carver has been created. An electrically powered, smaller, smarter and way more affordable vehicle than the Carver One. Engineered to be the ultimate future-proof solution to the urban mobility needs of this generation.