The Princess Elisabeth Station Gets its “zero emission” Vehicle
From October 2nd to 17th, the general public will have the opportunity to discover the “Venturi Antarctica” at the Mondial de l’Automobile in Paris. Partnering with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the International Polar Foundation collaborated with car manufacturer Venturi from Monaco to develop the “Venturi Antarctica”, an electric vehicle to be used in the extreme conditions of Antarctica.
Once delivered to the BELARE team the vehicle will allow scientists and other crew members at the Princess Elisabeth Station to go into the field “emissions-free” from the 2011-2012 Antarctic season onwards. In order to develop this unique vehicle, Venturi had to use all its know-how to come up with solutions to the challenging Antarctic environment. Conceived for use in temperatures down to - 50 °C, the vehicle will be directed by “joysticks” for greater precision. Weighing only 1.200kg, the “Venturi Antarctica” is extremely light, and has the ability of transporting up to a ton of staff and materials over 150km at a maximum speed of 40km/h.
Designed and built to fit in the global objective of “zero emission” pursued by the Princess Elisabeth Station, the “Venturi Antarctica” was conceived to connect on the station’s micro “smart grid” and will thus adapt its charging time to the priorities set by the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). This new piece of automotive technology further illustrates the feasibility of a “zero emission” target, even in the most extreme conditions.