Venturi VBB-3 targeting 700km/h-plus EV speed record
The Venturi VBB-3 is destined to become the fastest electric vehicle in the world when it attempts a world record speed run on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in August.
The third-generation Venturi VBB-3 – developed, engineered and built as part of a collaboration between Monegasque car maker Venturi Automobiles and Ohio State University (OSU) – is aiming to smash the 495km/h top-speed of its predecessor, the VBB-2.5.
The team has its sights set on reaching 600km/h this year, followed by 700km/h in 2014 and bettering that again in 2015.
With up to 2200kW and 2800Nm generated by its twin electric motors, the VBB-3 will also become the most powerful EV in the world when it debuts later this year. Energy is generated by 2000 lithium iron phosphate battery cells, with power channelled to all four wheels.
An 11.64m-long carbonfibre skin wraps around the car’s carbonfibre/aluminium honeycomb composite tub. The Venturi VBB-3 weighs 3.2 tonnes – the batteries account for half of that weight – while its drag co-efficient is a super-slippery 0.13.
Existing record holder Roger Schroer will be strapped in behind the wheel of the VBB-3 for its upcoming record attempt.
Venturi and OSU are dedicating the record attempt to Camille Jenatzy, the Belgian driver who in 1899 became the first person in history to break the 100km/h barrier, with 2013 marking the 100th anniversary of his death.
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