Venturi Eclectic - Plug-In, Solar, Wind Powered Car

If we look to the future with the intent of having as close to zero impact on the environment as possible, then the Venturi Eclectic, a car that makes use of multiple sources of renewable energy, is an excellent idea. The Venturi Eclectic seats three people and is designed and built by Venturi Automobiles of Monaco. It is powered by three sources of energy: Plug-In, Solar, and Wind powered energy and plugging it in takes 5 hours to charge the batteries completely.

The entire roof of the Eclectic is covered with 2.5 m2 of solar panels that can produce up to 330 W of charging power. Venturi advertises that the solar charging capability is enough to provide 7km (4.4 miles) of distance travel/day in high solar intensity regions. For windy regions, the optional wind powered generator that is mounted on the Venturi Eclectic while parked, can provide up to 15km (8.8 miles) of travel/day.

The Venturi Eclectic comes standard with LV-7 nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries that have a cycle life of 2500 charges. The electric motor is rated at 16kW power output. The maximum speed of the Eclectic is governed electronically at 50 km/h (31.2 mph) and the range is 50 km (31.2 miles) on a full charge.

Venturi is selling the Eclectic as a limited production of 200 cars in total. At a list price of 24000 Euros (without tax) it is really quite a bargain to get this degree of custom engineering at this price. Prospective purchasers will need to check with Venturi Motors (www.venturi.fr) to verify the Eclectic’s compliance with their own country’s vehicle licensing regulations.