From the world’s first electric sports car to the Moon – Electric Motor News
Venturi Space is developing a lunar rover that will be taken to the Moon in 2026 aboard the SpaceX Starship, and could also be part of NASA’s Artemis program with a mission planned for 2029. Venturi Group refocused its activities on the space sector in 2021 and in collaboration with its strategic US partner, Venturi Astrolab, is developing a lunar rover.
For two decades, we have not stopped creating, reinventing and innovating, with two aims: to be a disruptor and fly the flag for Monaco. Nobody, myself included, could have imagined that we would achieve our industrial feats on two planets!
And yet, that’s exactly what is set to happen by 2026. This final stage is a colossal challenge, but that’s what makes this adventure so exciting – said Gildo Pastor, President of Venturi.
The history at a glance
It has been twenty years since Venturi unveiled Fetish, the world’s first ever electric sports car. Today, two decades on, Venturi continues to push the boundaries of innovation and is playing a key role in the quest to take humans back to the surface of the Moon.
Venturi President Gildo Pastor unveiled the first ever all-electric sports car, Fetish, at the Paris Motor Show all the way back in 2004. Having bought the French brand four years earlier, the Monegasque businessman had decided to switch focus to electric engines, a bold gamble considering the technology was virtually unheard-of at the time. Twenty years later, Venturi has established itself as a leading player in the field of sustainable mobility and technological innovation, with a track record of success that includes:
- 26 world speed records,
- 5 revolutionary concept cars,
- 8 seasons in the Formula E world championship,
- 3 polar exploration vehicles,
- and thousands of engines built for vehicles made by the PSA Group.
Over the years, the company has evolved into a group comprising three entities: Venturi, Voxan, and Venturi Space. The latter of the three has strategic sites in Monaco, France (Toulouse), and Switzerland (Canton of Fribourg).
Venturi Fetish technical data
- Design: Sacha Lakic
- Development: Gerard Ducarouge
- Chassis: carbon unibody
- Max power: 180 kW (245 hp)
- Max torque: 220 Nm
- 0-100 km/h: 4 seconds
- Top speed: 200 km/h
- Transmission: rear-wheel drive
- Batteries: 45 kWh lithium-ion polymer
- Engine brake: one-pedal modulable
- Range: 340 km (at steady 90km/h)
- Total weight: 1,125 kg
About Venturi
Since 2000, the Monegasque Venturi Group has specialised in the design and manufacture of high-performance electric vehicles. Whether through world records, expeditions on hostile terrain, the creation of the first electric sports car, the development of innovative vehicles or its involvement in the Formula E World Championship, the Venturi Group embodies and demonstrates all the capabilities of the electric vehicle on 2 or 4 wheels. Since 2021, Venturi invents, studies, designs and manufactures mobility solutions capable of handling the extreme environmental conditions found on the Moon and Mars.
Starting 2026, Venturi Astrolab’s FLEX rover – for which the Venturi Group will have designed and manufactured innovative wheels and batteries – will be in operation on the Moon.
Moreover, NASA has awarded Venturi Astrolab a contract to support the development of the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) as part of the Artemis programme.
Source: Venturi