Novel options for cleaner air and less congestion

Cars do not just generate emissions. They get stuck in town, too. So the motor show this year is offering plenty of ideas about how to ease traffic congestion as well as keep the air purer.

A stand under the ambitious title of Clean Moves Brussels pulls together a wide assortment of novel options for what it calls "efficient mobility", ranging from electric vehicles to bicycle taxis.

The star of this part of the show is undoubtedly the Reva, a tiny electric car from Bangalore, launched in Belgium only at the start of this year. To look at, it has all the allure of a 1950s invalid carriage (despite its manufacturer’s suggestion that it is "fun and cute"), but its batteries will carry two passengers (and perhaps two infants in the back seat) for 80 kilometres at speeds of up to 80 km/h per hour before it needs a 2.5 hour recharge at any 15 amp socket. Part of its efficiency springs from its AC motor drivetrain with a 40% increase in mid-range torque, boosting acceleration and extending range - which may explain why the latest version is fitted with an anti-roll bar. Running costs are estimated at €0.10 per kilometre. Reva claims that 2,500 are on the roads across Europe and Asia, but is coy about take-up so far in Belgium.

But electricity is also now the motive power for a wide range of other vehicles too - scooters from Yamaha and Emax giving a 160 km range on a four-hour charge, street-safe golf buggies and electrically-assisted Tidal Force cycles from Matra Sports. "Everyone can cycle with an electric bike," says Professor Joeri Van Mierlo of the department of electrical engineering and energy technology at Brussels Free University (VUB).

Those seeking more traditional two-wheeled ways through the traffic jams can wander through the Aladdin’s cave of the motorcycle section of the show. Here the traditional pastel-coloured Vespas jostle with the bright metallic red of the bulbous Honda Goldwing (ostentatiously equipped with airbag), the stripped-down energy of the newly re-engined Agusta Brutale, or the ultimate Harley Davidson, the €37,000 Screamin’ Eagle Electra Glide.

No trace remains of the city-bikes with roofs that BMW and others experimented with some years ago, but weather protection for riders is available from an increasingly varied range of cross-overs from the motorcycle world into quads, buggies and a new breed of what can only be described as light jeeps - like the Yamaha Rhino 700SE, with a 686cc engine and seats for two with luggage, or the four-seater 4x4 Kawasaki Mule. One step further is the Xbow, an innovation from renowned Austrian trail-bike manufacturer KTM. This has a 2-litre Audi engine that accelerates its carbon fibre monocoque frame to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds - and looks like Batman’s car.

Another possible solution on show is the Nissan Navara double cab pick-up, demonstrating its ability to carry a full-sized motorbike when the tailboard is down. But it might in the end be easier just to carry one of those hi-tech BMW pedal cycles on a hi-tech BMW cycle rack on the back of a BMW 1 series - and get out and ride when the traffic gets too bad.

Cars do not just generate emissions. They get stuck in town, too. So the motor show this year is offering plenty of ideas about how to ease traffic congestion as well as keep the air purer.