Zoomi Life

Yet another electric car has been unveiled at the Paris Auto show. This time it’s not just a car - this supercar is made by Monaco-based car maker Venturi, and in our opinion is one incredibly sexy beast. Venturi and French tire maker Michelin have teamed up to create a car that looks as though it could belong in a Sci-Fi flick or the latest Speed Racer movie. The Venturi Volage is a two-seat roadster with a sleek, carbon fiber body and individual in-wheel motors. More info and pics below the fold.

Both Michelin and Venturi are sparing no expense on this vehicle, as they intend it to be a showcase platform for their latest technical and design innovations. For example, the Volage is to feature a digital, touchscreen dashboard which will enable the driver to fine-tune the way that the vehicle uses the energy stored in it’s polymer lithium batteries; since the vehicle’s average speed affects it’s range, it will be possible to govern the Volage’s top speed in order to increase or decrease the vehicle’s 200 mile average range.

Volage and Michelin are going all-out on this vehicle; Michelin incorporated it’s new ‘active wheel’ technology, which incorporates two independent motors into each wheel; one motor supplies the power for driving the wheel, while the other one controls the vehicle’s electronic suspension.

All told, eight motors working together can take this amazing electric vehicle from 0 to 60 in less than five seconds. Now that’s what we cann fast! And given the high torque output by electric motors at 0 RPM, we’re pretty sure you could smoke the tires on this beast at whatever speed you were going.

If you’re dying to get a Volage, we sure hope you’ve got some friends in high places - Like the Venturi Fetish, Venturi’s other electric supercar, this vehicle will be hand-assembled in a very limited production run. Venturi has not announced pricing for this vehicle yet, but given it’s technology and it’s high end branding, design, and target market, don’t expect to see it available for less than $350k. You better have some patience as well - Venturi plans to roll the first Volages from it’s factories in 2012.

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