Venturi America, 2010

 

 

 

•  Venturi America, 2010

The Venturi America combines both the values of traditional America and those resulting from new awareness of ecological issues.

This new American dream is embodied by this new model from Venturi : a high-riding electric sports car that one can see oneself driving, one's hair in the wind, through the fantastic scenery offered by this vast continent.

Equipped with the same motor of over 300 hp as the Venturi Fetish, this new-era "buggy" is, in fact, a high-powered lightweight vehicle with a chassis specially designed to suit its particularly high body. The America is nevertheless an acceleration car that symbolizes "cool green attitude" while being a luxury technological product.

In fact, there is nothing today that is anything like this fantastic vehicle, half sports car, half buggy, but it is well worth betting that Venturi has once again come up with a model that will enter the annals of history.

The America also marks a new milestone for Venturi which has just launched Venturi North America in Columbus, Ohio. In parallel to its sites in Monaco and France, this new unit will enable Venturi to pursue its technical and commercial development in the United States.

VM300 : A NEW-GENERATION ELECTRIC MOTOR
The America has borrowed its motor from the new Fetish, the VM300, which, with over 300 hp (+220 kW) and torque of 380 Nm, is the most advanced electric motor ever designed for an automobile.

To get the very best out of such a motor, a new 54 kWh battery pack has been developed (LIV-10 Lithium Ion Polymer batteries) whose electronics (Battery Management System) have been entrusted to Ventec, the leader in the field.

The America offers a real range of up to 300 km. Thanks to its on-board charger, it can recharge using a standard electrical socket or fast charge terminals (see Specs).

A SPECIAL CHASSIS
The first chassis specifically designed to house a large volume of batteries, the carbon monocoque developed by Venturi provides exceptional protection for its occupants : the body is in fact completed by two deformable cells positioned at the front and rear of the vehicle. This concept guarantees the security of the battery pack in the event of an accident and provides a level of safety never before attained in an electric car.

With the same aim, the chassis of the Venturi America has been designed and tested to protect passengers from electromagnetic emissions from the vehicle's batteries.

Derived from that of the new Fetish, the America's chassis has been treated to specific development.

EXTREME VERSATILITY
A real synthesis of two exclusive automobile worlds, the America is both an electric sports car and an all-terrain leisure vehicle. This "mix" approach ensures extreme versatility in use.

Its performance, balance and sports car road-holding, combined with its particularly high body and specific tyre mounting, ensure that it is equally at ease on steep paths as on the highway.

This electric "Buggy" offers the possibility of Venturing off the beaten track while respecting the environment in terms of both noise pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

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Venturi Eclectic, 2007

 

Venturi Eclectic, 2007

Eclectic: Broad-mindedness enabling one to address all new ideas with understanding, taking the best offered by each different system.

THE 1st ENERGY-AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE
Soaring gas prices, economic crises, wars, omnipresent pollution, irreversible changes in the climate… Our world is going through a period when the stakes in terms of energy form the very basis for worldwide chaos. While admitting that no solution for energy production can be perfect, we must become fully aware of the imperative need to limit our own personal consumption of energy.

Venturi Eclectic, the first autonomous vehicle in the history of the automobile, opens up a new era in the field of mobility: reserved for daily driving in urban areas, its low energy consumption makes it the most economical environmental vehicle ever built.

Innovative and astonishing, Venturi Eclectic is much more than a simple vehicle ; it is a production and storage plant for renewable energies, either solar or wind based. Charging of these energies, which is intermittent in certain regions, can also be complemented by electrical recharging.

FUNCTION DICTATES THE DESIGN
Of decidedly original design, this is a vehicle that has no desire to look like other cars which depend on "black gold": priority has been given to integration of the photovoltaic cells which compose its translucid roof.

Venturi Eclectic thus does not pass unnoticed in traffic: its elevated central driving position offers exceptional panoramic vision and considerable space, for both driver and passengers.

The Venturi Eclectic's message is loud and clear: this is not an ordinary car, but an avant-garde way of getting around. Owning an Venturi Eclectic is also a personal commitment: it means changing one's way of getting from one place to another by exchanging one's role as a "consumer" for that of a "producer" and this, in the general interest.

Its designer Sacha Lakic describes Venturi Eclectic as: "a modern, autonomous and intelligent automobile. The energy that drives it exists all around it: it simply has to deploy its wind turbine, expose its solar cells or, if necessary, find a simple electric plug.

It is usual practice to "stylise" a car. In the case of Venturi Eclectic, its contours were born of an approach to design. Its appearance reflects its function.

Its silhouette pays homage to certain icon-cars such as the Lunar Rover, Mini-Moke and Méhari. Though its technology positions it clearly in the present and, above all, the future.

TECHNOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ADVANCES
Venturi marks a new era in technological history by launching the production of Venturi Eclectic, an urban 3-seater electro-solar vehicle which goes well beyond anything offered so far by car manufacturers of today:

• 1 st vehicle powered by renewable energies;
• 1 st solar production vehicle (2.5 sqm of photovoltaic cells);
• 1 st vehicle that can be directly recharged with a personal wind turbine;

The Venturi Eclectic is thus the vehicle with the least possible impact on the environment.

Unlike other vehicles which are not used for over 90% of the time, Venturi Eclectic takes advantage of moments of immobilisation to store energy in its batteries ; contrary to a petrol tank, this energy reserve remains available for other uses. It's well worth betting that one day, and at national level, this could comprise a considerable reserve of energy which could compensate for breakdowns in the production of electricity as already seen, for example, in California.

With last-generation NiMH (NIV-7) batteries (liquid cooled), Venturi Eclectic offers a range up to 50 km at a speed of 50 km/h (electronically restricted), which suffices largely to cover daily movements in urban areas.

The share of solar recharging is approximately 7 km per day of exposure
When using electricity, a full recharge requires 5 hrs using a standard connection (16 A).
Finally, as an option, Venturi Eclectic can be recharged with one or more wind turbines, fixed either on the roof of the vehicle when it is stationary, or to the ground with a specific mast. In this case, the share of recharging is approximately 15 km per day in windy areas.

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Venturi Volage Concept, 2008

 

 

 Venturi Volage Concept, 2008

The result of close technological collaboration between Venturi Automobiles and Michelin, the Venturi Volage, presented for the first time at the "Mondial 2008" (Paris Motor Show), marks a major step forward in the evolution of the Automobile.

The new Venturi incorporates innovations which have enabled radical changes in terms of the vehicle's architecture, style, dynamic behaviour and, more generally, the design of a modern vehicle.

All these changes constitute several world premières which, with the presentation of the Venturi Volage, reinforce Venturi's capability for constant innovation, as well as its position as the most advanced company in the field of electric vehicles.

POWER TRANSMISSION & ACTIVE SUSPENSION
With 4 drive wheels with active suspension, the Venturi Volage has no equivalent. "Michelin Active Wheel" technology in fact incorporates 2 electric motors per wheel (1 for suspension and 1 for drive), ie. a total of 8 electric motors piloted in real time by spearhead electronics.

Like the mechanism of a watch, all the components, motors, gear reduction units and suspensions, are miniaturized and built into the wheels.

The active electric shock absorber system allows for total adaptation to the type of road surface and driving. Combining Michelin's experience in the area of surface liaison with that of Venturi for the chassis, the Venturi Volage represents in its road holding, drivability and silent functioning, the summum of today's automotive technology.

THE CAR OF THE DIGITAL ERA
Playing down the mechanical aspect in favor of electronics, close to the concept of a robot, this car belongs to a new era, the digital era. Thanks to a dashboard touch screen, the driver can configure the vehicle entirely as he wishes. This total control marks significant progress in terms of management, particularly of the energy stored in the car's batteries: the driver can, for example, decide to give preference in certain cases to range rather than power, comfort rather than speed, an important factor for an electric car.

A CHASSIS UNIQUE WORLDWIDE
The only part that the Venturi Volage shares with the Venturi Fétish is its carbon fiber bodywork. Developed by the Venturi Design Office, this body is still a unique concept worldwide, as it is the only one to have been specifically designed to be that of an electric car and thus carry batteries within its very structure.
The ideal distribution of the Venturi Volage's masses - 45% at the front, 55% at the rear - and its perfectly mastered weight of 1,075 kg enable it to attain 100 km/h (62 mph) in less than 5 seconds.

PRODUCTION MODELS
A real demonstration of spearhead technology, the car presented in its world première is entirely operational and prefigures the production of a limited series of this model, scheduled as from 2012.

Like the Venturi Fétish assembled in our workshops in Monaco, the Venturi Volage will be assembled by hand, in the form of very limited production.

The technological repercussions of these two cars positioned at the very top end of the market are to be found on other vehicles bearing the Venturi brand, enabling as many people as possible to benefit from the firm's advances in the field of sustainable mobility.

DESIGN OF VOLAGE, BY SACHA LAKIC
"Like a light and sensual veil, the Volage's bodywork clings close to its exceptional technical features.

Active suspensions and motors incorporated into the wheels, a flat bottom, aerodynamic tunnels: these choices and technological advances have enabled me to "design the void" usually occupied by the engine and suspensions, and thus explore audacious new paths in terms of styling.

Venturi olage has been fashioned by the wind.
The science of aerodynamics is the main tool that has been used to elaborate its shape. It is easy and enjoyable to imagine the movement of flows of air, on and across its bodywork.

Venturi Volage finds itself in a totally original and decidedly contemporary formal category. The relationship with Venturi's other models is obvious, though it is also possible to see, in a few details, a subtle tribute to certain icons among French cars of the pre-war era, the most elegant, the ones that were way before their time.
 

Technical specifications
    * Type: 2-seater roadster, 4 wheel drive « Michelin Active Wheel »
    * Electric motor
          o 4 wheel-motors with max power of 55 kW (220 kW total)
          o Max torque: 232 Nm (4 x 58 Nm) from 0-8,500 rpm
          o Liquid cooling
    * Suspension: Electric shock absorber on each wheel, of the "Michelin Active Wheel" type
    * Batteries
          o Technology: Polymere Lithium
          o Energy: 45kWh
          o Weight of batteries: 350 kg
          o Liquid cooling
          o Life-span of batteries: over 1,500 cycles
          o Regeneration system via deceleration
    * 80% recharge
          o With external recharge booster (10 kW): 4 hours (220 V-16 A T)
          o With onboard charger: 8 hours (220 V-16 A mono)
    * Chassis
          o Central unit: composite materials, carbon sandwich / aluminium honeycomb, pressure-sealed
          o Front and rear mesh: aeronautic steel
    * Bodywork: Carbon fiber
    * Brakes: Discs and specific calipers, incorporated into the Michelin Active Wheels
    * Performance
          o 0-100 km/h : < 5 s
          o Range at 90 km/h: 320 km
          o Top speed: 150 km/h
    * Dimensions
          o Length: 3965 mm
          o Width: 1949 mm
          o Height: 1235 mm
          o Front gauge: 1525 mm
          o Rear gauge: 1626 mm
          o Wheelbase: 2702 mm
          o Front tyres: Michelin 205 40 R18
          o Rear tyres : Michelin 235 45 R18
          o Total weight: 1,075 kg

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Venturi Astrolab

Venturi Astrolab 2007

Astrolab (latin astro = star, labe = to take) Takes energy from the sun

ELECTRO-SOLAR HYBRID

With 3.6 sqm of photovoltaic cells giving an exceptional yield of 21%, and covered by a film composed of nano-prisms enabling denser concentration of solar energy, Venturi Astrolab is the first high-performance solar vehicle to be commercialized in the world.

Capable of working with very little energy (16 kWc engine) and of recharging even when in motion, this vehicle of another era does not need to be permanently exposed to the sun in order to move. Its last-generation NiMH Venturi NIV-7 batteries - liquid cooled - in fact enable it to restitute stored energy, whether solar or from the electricity supply, making it the first electro-solar hybrid vehicle.

With a top speed of 120 kmhr and autonomy of 110 km, Venturi Astrolab is a real Solar Commuter making extensive trips on a daily basis.
Made by order, Venturi Astrolab is a vehicle with a considerable technological head-start on all other productions worldwide. It meets the needs of people's inter-urban travel, at the forefront of the best that is being achieved in terms of technology.


CONSUMPTION = 0, EMISSIONS = 0
This is very first vehicle that consumes no fossile resources in order to work the emissions of CO2 required for its construction will even be compensated for by evironmental actions.

A parallel can be drawn between Venturi Astrolab and a sailboat both advance silently while making best use of the elements provided by Nature. And the piloting of both makes for sensations unlike any other.
To attain this level of performance while using very little energy, Venturi Astrolab has been designed like a Formula 1 its carbon monocoque chassis is ultra-light and serves as an oversized protection cell ensuring the safety of its occupants in the event of a collision. Its profile recalls the aqua-dynamic design of great racing yachts.

A NEW ERA IN TERMS OF DESIGN

Venturi Astrolab also opens up a new era as regards automobile architecture light and highprofiled, it offers the rays of the sun 3.6 sqm of today's most sophisticated photovoltaic cells (for an overall vehicle length under 4 m).

Its designer Sacha Lakic describes Venturi Astrolab as a flying wing set on four wheels.
Optimised to incoporate its solar cells, the Venturi Astrolab's design takes into account the effect of passengers' weight on the vehicle's dynamic behaviour. Very light when empty, the tandem architecture makes for perfect balance, whether the vehicle is occupied by one person or two.
With Astrolab, Venturi has given priority to the solar solution as its energy conversion technology all of its developments allow us to hope for even higher yields in the years to come. Within a 30-year perspective, Venturi is the only automobile manufacturer capable of presenting such a solution while ensuring new driving sensations and an essential aspect of automobiles the dream.

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