At the North American International Auto Show, Gizmag’s Noel McKeegan got the lowdown on the Venturi Volage concept electric sportscar from Venturi’s Clement Dorance. Venturi is the company responsible for the world’s first production electric sportscar, the Fetish, and its latest electric sportscar is the result of collaboration between Venturi and Michelin. It is one of the first applications of the Michelin Active Wheel System that replaces a vehicle’s traditional engine with eight electric motors located within the wheels. Each wheel contains two motors - one responsible for the propulsion and the other taking care of the suspension. As Clement explains this innovative design not only gives the Volage four-wheel-drive and active suspension, but also provides a low center of gravity to further enhance the maneuverability and overall performance of the vehicle.
Check out the vid for an overview of the Volage as well as Venturi's plans to supply electric vehicles to the French postal service.
The current idea for electric cars -- hybrids -- is just a real complicated legacy design that evolved from timidity in engineering by people with limited vision.
This car makes complete sense. Motors in the wheels rather than 5 feet away from the wheels plus a complicated energy transport system (drive train) to make the wheels turn while soaking up a far portion of the motor\'s energy.
And simple, active suspension rather than a complicated Rube Goldberg structure of links and rods that is engineered as a compromise to a host of separate suspension problems, And the active suspension is all controlled by a computer that is smaller than one shock absorber which can be updated with new firmware to meet different needs.
It\'s a brilliant design. And cheaper to build in the long run once the battery problems for all electric cars are worked out.