Automotive

Venturi unveils world’s most powerful electric car, the VBB-3

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Venturi VBB - 3 electric car will attempt to reach a speed of 700 km/h (434 m/h) in 2015 (Photo: Venturi Automobiles)
Venturi VBB - 3 electric car will attempt to reach a speed of 700 km/h (434 m/h) in 2015 (Photo: Venturi Automobiles)
The front of the VBB-3 (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
Side view of the the VBB-3 (Photo: Venturi Automobiles)
A 3D view of its engine (Photo: Venturi Automobiles)
A close up of the batteries in the car (Photo: Venturi Automobiles)
A view of the VBB-3 undercarriage (Photo: Venturi Automobiles)
A shot of the undercarriage and batteries pack (Photo: Venturi Automobiles)
The VBB-3 deconstructed (Photo: Venturi Automobiles)
Top view of the VBB-3 (Photo: Venturi Automobiles)
The team at Salt Lake (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
Princess Charlene arrives for the VBB-3's unveiling (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
The VBB-3 aims to exceed 440 mph (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
The Prince with Gildo Pallanca Pastor, CEO of Venturi Automobiles (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
Close up of the Prince and the team (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
Team members gather around the car (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
The VBB-3's powerful motor (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
The VBB-3 team gathers around the car(Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
Students at Ohio University who worked on the car (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
The Prince and Princess take a a closer look (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
Team members around the car(Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
The site of the test run at Utah (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
The flooded lake prevented testing this month(Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
A team member explains the technology to the Prince (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
Prince Albert II of Monaco with driver Roger Schroer (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
The team works on the VBB-3 in Utah (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
At work on the VBB-3 (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
At work on the VBB-3 (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
The team works on the car(Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
View of the driver's seat (Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
The team works on the car(Photo: Denis Boussard/Venturi Automobiles)
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French manufacturer Venturi Automobiles is no stranger to the world of high-speed electric vehicles. The company's ongoing collaboration with Ohio State University saw the Buckeye Bullet 2.5 set the current EV land speed record of 495 km/h (307mph) in 2010, and now the team is setting its sights on a new mark with what's billed as the most powerful electric car ever made – the Venturi VBB-3.

The VBB-3 was unveiled this month by Prince Albert II of Monaco and Princess Charlene at the Wendover airfield in Utah, USA.

The third generation Venturi “Jamais Contente” (which translates as "The Never Satisfied") cost a cool US$6 million to build. The aim of the project is to hit progressively higher targets over the next two years, with the ultimate goal being to exceed 440 mph (708 km/h).

If it manages to do that, this needle-like EV will smash the official FIA world land speed record for a vehicle with an electric motor of 495 km/hr (307m/hr) set by its predecessor the Buckeye Bullet 2.5. Unfortunately no record run could be attempted this month due to dismal weather that flooded the Salt Lake. The team hoped to cross the 600 km/hr (372 mph) threshold this year, but that's been rescheduled to July 2014.

Housed in a 11.64 m-long carbon fiber skin, the 4WD VBB-3 features an electric motor that can deliver power of up to 3,000 hp (2,200 kW) and weighs about 3.2 tonnes in total, with batteries accounting for about half its weight.

Inspired by the exploits of Belgian driver Camille Jenatzy's who broke the 100 km/h barrier in an electric vehicle 1899, the project is part of Venturi's Global Challenges initiative – a set of technological tests like Mission 04, which saw Xavier Chevrin travel 5,800 km (3,603 mi) through Africa in an EV.

As well as grabbing headlines, the VBB-3 serves as a testbed for specially developed components that will have applications for production vehicles.

"By designing the most powerful electric vehicle in the world, we are consolidating our lead in the field of electric propulsion, but perhaps more importantly, we are innovating in order to optimize energy efficiency, one of the greatest challenges facing not only the automobile industry, but society in general," says Gildo Pallanca Pastor, CEO of Venturi Automobiles.

Check out the Venturi VBB-3 in the video below.

Source: Venturi Automobiles

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4 comments
Freyr Gunnar
> The third generation Venturi “Jamais Contente” (which translates as "The Never Satisfied") [...] Inspired by the exploits of Belgian driver Camille Jenatzy's who broke the 100 km/h barrier in an electric vehicle 1899
"La jamais contente" was the name of that vehicle in 1899, hence the reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Jamais_Contente
The Skud
Typical electric ... little space, not much range, plus a terrible turning circle! I bet the rear vision is poor as well! Still, I wish them good luck.
dsiple
Skud, who cares about rear vision - no cops to pull you over at Bonneville. As for turning radius - you're only going in a straight line. That's a lot of battery, though. Wonder what its range is.
byrneheart
Hi Skud, don't worry, I got your humour.