How about this: a pedalable trike vehicle with a top speed of up to 120 km/h? Something for you? It’s not entirely a crackpot idea, as there actually is a startup in France called Cixi working on a vehicle called the Vigoz that roughly matches that. That said, there are several caveats, and it has not yet been proven at full specification.
The Vigoz is called an ‘active vehicle’ by its makers; combining pedal input and electric drive, with no mechanical chain or belt. Instead, the pedal input is converted to electricity by a generator via a system they call PERS (Pedaling Energy Recovery System), which then powers an electric motor.
Spiritual cousin to the Carver?
It’s a three-wheeled, leaning vehicle with two wheels in the front and one in the rear, featuring a semi-enclosed ‘bubble’ weatherproof cabin design with one or two seats. You could say the Cixi Vigoz and the Dutch Carver, which first emerged in the 2000s as a petrol trike and in 2020 as a fully electric one, are somewhat spiritual cousins.
Both tadpoles refer to a three-wheeled vehicle layout where the Carver alternatively has two wheels in the back and one wheel in the front. The Carver EV, with its 2.89 m length, 0.98 m width, and 1.49 m height, is more conservative in terms of dimensions and features. It works today with a relatively compact, enclosed pod with moderate usability.
The Vigoz cabin is designed for everyday usability: weather protection with sliding windows, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), cargo or passenger capacity, a crash-absorbing structure, ISOFIX compatibility (child seat), etc. But it is taller (3.5 m x 1.54 m x 1.65 m) and is expected to be almost twice as heavy (550 kg vs 330 kg).
The Cixi Vigoz electronic tilt system’s active control utilizes sensors to measure steering input via side levers from the drive-by-wire system, as well as speed and acceleration.
Then, motors or actuators adjust the lean angle dynamically. The whole vehicle, including the front suspension, leans in bends. This mechatronic intelligence has some drawbacks: it adds complexity, needs fail-safes, and is expensive.
Patented Dutch Carver tech from the 1990s uses Dynamic Vehicle Control (DVC) with hydraulic actuators to connect the steering mechanism to the tilting cabin. When you steer, hydraulic pressure automatically tilts the cabin into the turn, balancing cornering forces. Purely mechanical and beautifully intuitive, and no electronics needed.
The pedaling in the French trike is independent of speed. You can pedal at a comfortable cadence, such as 60–90 rpm, even when the vehicle is traveling at 100 km/h. That’s because the pedals aren’t physically geared to the wheels but driving a generator. It also features regenerative braking, recapturing kinetic energy as in EVs.
You can also adjust the resistance, similar to an exercise bike, to select your desired workout level. The goal isn’t to power the car fully by pedaling, which would be physically impossible at 120 km/h, even for a trained professional cyclist going downhill, but to keep the driver engaged during travel and give the sensation of physical participation.
Cixi claims that steady pedaling can add several kilometers of range per trip. Still, even at full human effort, you’re contributing maybe 150–300 W, relatively tiny compared to the 20 to 40 kW needed to maintain highway speed.
That’s why there is also a larger battery of 22 kWh, which provides the primary propulsion energy and can be charged at home on a 230V plug in six hours. The Carver EV is available with either a 5.4 kWh or a 7.1 kWh battery in the cargo variant. That translates to a range of approximately 160 km for the French and 100 km for the Dutch one.
The stated target top speed of the Vigoz is 120 km/h. Still, the prototype or ‘mule’ has so far been tested up to 100 km/h according to some sources, but not yet publicly demonstrated at the full 120 km/h. The gasoline Carver reaches a top speed of 185 km/h, and the Carver EV is limited to 45 km/h (as an L6e microcar) or 80 km/h (as an L7e version).
Still, there are some serious questions to ask about all this. Getting a prototype to 100 km/h is one thing; safely and reliably delivering 120 km/h in traffic, with human pedals in the loop, is a big leap. Drag, stability, safety margins, cooling, vibration, structural integrity, and regulatory compliance all become harder at higher speeds.
To get onto highways, the vehicle must meet crash, lighting, signaling, safety, and classification regulations. It may be classified as a light quadricycle or a special car, but each jurisdiction has its own rules. Getting homologation is costly and protracted.
Converting pedaling to electricity, storing it in a battery, and then powering a motor involves energy losses. The more steps in the chain, the more inefficiency. In practice, the pedal input might only provide a small fraction of the total power required at high speeds.
How it handles hills, crosswinds, inclement weather, road surface, durability over time, and maintenance are all unknown at this point. Many ambitious mobility projects never fully reach commercial scale or get significantly delayed.
Carver going bankrupt
The famous tilting Carver One wowed the media but never scaled, as only some 200 units were built, and Carver Europe went bankrupt in 2009. The IP survived, and the brand later re-emerged with the simpler, slower Carver EV (45–80 km/h), which is built in small volumes today.
Vigoz is still a prototype in pre-market and is aiming for highway performance, which is a more challenging goal to achieve. Cixi is a French e-mobility or ‘active mobility’ startup founded around 2015–2016 in the Haute-Savoie region of France by four individuals, of whom little is publicly known about their background.
Their development, design, and assembly operations are in Poisy, Haute-Savoie, near Annecy, France. The company reports having around 65 employees. LEVA-EU, a European light electric vehicle association, reports that the company’s target is to launch the first certified, road-ready VIGOZ models via subscription, with fleet availability to follow.
No prices are mentioned yet and pre-orders will begin once delivery timelines are finalized. That might take some extra time, though?
