Venturi Astrolab solar hybrid car
Venturi, the same company that brought us the Eclectic wind-powered hybrid car prototype, will be shipping a solar hybrid car in January 2008. Range is about 100km and it can go about 110km per hour (though obviously not for very long). It contains 3.6 square meters of photovoltaic cells with a yield of 21%, and stores the extra in batteries. While it has some of the goofy look and inadequate space associated with electric cars (though it does actually have a second seat, behind the first, like a WWII fighter plane), it would be a natural in Los Angeles, where the sun’s always on and the traffic jams likewise. $117,000 USD, which will seem like a better deal as the price of petrol continues going up. [GT]
The world’s first commercially-available electric-solar hybrid, and a sporty one at that [via Gizmag]
