Venturi Eclectic: Fuelless Transport - Exhibit B
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 01.15.07
Venturi of France make some inspiring vehicles. The sleek lines of both the Fetish and the Astrolab have engendered much lust amongst green car mavens. Late last year they unveiled a less aerodynamic model, tagged the Eclectric. We noted its arrival via Hugg but not here directly. Yet it is possibly the more practical of Venturi’s adventures into fossil fuel free vehicles, being aimed at daily driving in urban areas. They term it the ‘The 1st Energy-autonomous Vehicle,’ meaning it is self sufficient for its energy source, assuming that is, the sun continues to shine and wind blow. They are also claiming it to be the first solar production vehicle, which is a reference to the fact that they are currently making 20 pre-production cars (with their 2.5m2 solar rooftops), and an additional 200 are due by June 2007. (cost anticipated to be about € 24,000, and planned higher level production scheduled for 2009, by which time they expect the price to drop to € 15,000.) The Eclectic has a range up to 50 km at a speed of 50 km/h (electronically restricted), powered from the charge held by the liquid cooled NiMH (NIV-7) batteries, which Venturi say they'll recycle at end of their useful life. Like the Sunswift student project, Venturi also opt to offset other energy use and be a carbon neutral operation. ::Venturi Eclectic, via Dexigner.
Not as cool as the Tesla but no less impressive! This would be a great car to have around Oxford. Maybe with a slightly different configuration it would be great to get the dog to the kennel, go to the farmers' market, and the re-use store ... but I will keep an eye on this vehicle.
I can't wait until the release of this vehicle. If I could make some changes to it, I would make the turbine be able to connect directly to the car and operate while the car's in motion. It would also be nice if it could reach 40 mph.