Venturi - A Monegasque Success Story (December, 2009)

Venturi Automobiles and Citroën have won the international tender launched by La Poste (French postal services) with their Berlingo First Electric to provide its postmen with electric vehicles. Following several months of tests held under real conditions, La Poste will have 250 Berlingo First Electric “Powered by Venturi”.

With the Berlingo First Electric “Powered by Venturi”, Citroën is one of the first manufacturers to commercialize an entirely electric vehicle. “This decision reflects the strategy adopted by the Citroën brand, deliberately oriented towards concrete proposals for sustainable mobility, which will soon be completed by the arrival of the Citroën C-Zero,” declared Frédéric Banzet, General Director of Automobiles Citroën.
A spin-off from the fuel-based version, the Berlingo First Electric offers a charging capacity of 500 kg and charging volume of 3 m3. The electric power train is fully integrated beneath the hood at the front of the vehicle.

Fitted with a three-phase asynchronous engine with maximum power of 42 kW, the Berlingo First Electric offers a range of 100 km and a top speed of 110 km/hr. To reach the 80% recharged level takes 5 hours. These characteristics make it ideal for users of captive fleets, for whom these features are particularly well-suited.

Delivery of vehicles for La Poste will be made in 2010.

Gildo Pallanca Pastor, President of Venturi Automobiles, is proud to have carried off this international tender: “Our innovation policy in electric vehicles, introduced about ten years ago, now gives us a real edge. Winning this international competition alongside the Groupe PSA Peugeot Citroën is a fine reward which reflects the development of our rapidly growing company.”

Venturi has pursued for close to ten years a sustained innovation policy in the field of electric vehicles. Mastering the most advanced technological solutions in this sector, Venturi’s expertise ranges from urban to high-performance vehicles.

The Citroën brand

Backed by 90 years of technological innovation and creativity in automobile design, Citroën offers its clients a modern and comprehensive range of passenger and utility vehicles. It is Europe’s number one manufacturer of compact monospace vehicles with the C4 Picasso and ranks among the leaders for low CO2/km emission vehicles. In 2008, Citroën boasted 8,000 customer contact points, 13,500 employees and sales of 1,356,000 vehicles. In 2009, the company committed itself to a comprehensive transformation project: a new identity, new customer relationships, and a new line of products: the DS line.

Venturi demonstrates its technological advance through extreme challenges

Bonneville, Utah: After having broken two speed records on the Salt Flats, Venturi launches the “Venturi Global Challenges”, a series of technological and human challenges in order to show the company’s advances in electric propulsion.

Each challenge, presented as a specific mission, will take place on a different continent and will allow the establishment of new records, underlining the reliability, the energy effectiveness and the robustness of Venturi’s electric vehicles in extreme conditions.

Mission 1: The Venturi “Jamais Contente” a.k.a. the Venturi Buckeye Bullet

110 years after being the first vehicle in all categories to go faster than 60 mph (65.2 mph in April 1899), the salt flats in Bonneville, Utah saw the descendant of the “Jamais Contente” reach about 302 mph (487 km/h), and established a new world speed record for an electric drive vehicle equipped with a hydrogen fuel cell.

September 25th, 2009, USAC (United States Auto Club) timekeepers have registered these two new world records, 302.88 mph (487.43 km/h) and 303.03 mph (487.67 km/h) (average speeds respectively calculated on 1 mile and 1 kilometer in both ways, subject to FIA homologation).

The Venturi Buckeye Bullet, nicknamed “Venturi Jamais Contente” in France, is a 750 hp electric record car developed in partnership with the Ohio State University (OSU). This is part of a 3 year program during which this Streamliner will attempt to break some other records and will establish new references in the high performance electric vehicle field in 2010 and 2011.

For more information about the "Jamais Contente", visit it's official website.

Mission 2: Venturi "Shanghai to Paris"

About 80 years after André Citroën’s amazing adventure of “La Croisière Jaune” (the Yellow Cruise), Venturi will accomplish the return journey, from Shanghai to Paris in an electric vehicle.

Venturi Global Challenges second mission, scheduled in May 2010, is an amazing human experience. The purpose of this adventure is to establish a new distance record for electric production models and to demonstrate the reliability of Venturi’s electric vehicles.

The vehicle and its crew will have to face a very hard path which crosses the Gobi desert and the Kazak Mountains. It covers approximately 8,300 miles (14,000 km) through China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany and finally France.

This mission will be presented in detail on November 21st 2009 at 5pm at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
For more information about the "Shanghai to Paris" mission, visit it's official website.

Mission 3: Venturi "Antarctica"

Proposed by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco after His expedition in Antarctica, this mission consists of designing a green vehicle able to operate in Antarctica’s extreme conditions.

The Princess Elisabeth Station is the first station in Antarctica to be entirely powered by renewable energies. The Venturi “Antarctica” will be used by the scientists to move to their different research sites. It is a great opportunity for Venturi to experiment this vehicle in collaboration with Alain Hubert, President of the International Polar Foundation.

This mission is also a wink to the explorer Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton who was the first one to bring a car to the continent a century ago. At that time, the vehicle had frozen immediately.

"Antarctica" mission will be presented at the Paris Motor Show 2010 on October the 2nd.

Venturi Automobiles

Since 2001, Venturi has led a sustained innovation drive that has made it an undisputed leader in electric vehicles. Driving the most advanced technological solution in its field, Venturi has a unique experience extended from high-performance sports cars to city quadricycles through electric conversions. Venturi, through its accomplishments, has influenced the future of automobile changing the electric vehicle perception.

Venturi is the first company in France to start producing electric cars. Besides the pre series vehicles already on the roads, the Citroën Berlingo “Powered by Venturi” production will begin in January in La Sarthe, France.

For more information about Venturi, visit their official website.