Venture Vehicles, Fly the Road
July 14th, 2008 by Damon Clifford
UPDATE DECEMBER 8, 2008 VENTURE VEHICLES HAS CHANGED THEIR NAME TO PERSU MOBILITY
Venture Vehicles based out of Los Angeles, California has entered the Auto X PRIZE competition with their revolutionary 3-wheel, fully enclosed , tilting vehicle. The unique 2-passenger vehicle is projected to achieve 100 miles per gallon, accelerate from 0-60 in about 7 seconds, and have a top speed of over 100 mph. With this vehicle, you will “Fly the Road”.
This is one cool vehicle that I believe will do very well in the U.S. I believe it has the style, the technology, and the right price to become very popular with consumers and run the road.
From the Progressive Auto X PRIZE website:
Venture Vehicles, led by Ian Bruce, is creating a three-wheeled hybrid with two tandem seats called the VentureOne. The vehicle will lean into turns, providing increased stability and control. While it is technically a motorcycle, it is fully enclosed, and uses standard wheel and pedal driving controls. Their goal is to receive over 100 MPG while maintaining an acceleration of 0-60mph in less than seven seconds.
The Venture One is very similar to the Carver One with it’s tilting technology developed by Carver Engineering. Venture Vehicles has developed the Venture One to feel like a sportscar, but act like a motorcycle.
Though not a motorcycle, the Venture One tilts into curves just like a motorcycle but is stabilized by the DVC™ technology (Dynamic Vehicle Control) developed by Carver Engineering.
They are planning to come out with a hybrid Venture One, plug-in hybrid Venture One, and an all electric Venture One. The HEV and the PHEV are both expected to get over 100 mpg while the all electric Venture One will have a range of 120 miles per charge. They’ll have an initial price target between $20,000 and $25,000.
The Venture One is planned to roll out in 2010 in California and then other parts of the country while they set up their retail and service infrastructure.
You can check more out about the vehicle at Venture Vehicles Blog and Forums or another site called Fly the Road Club
This is a promo for the Carver, which is the vehicle that the Venture One is based off of:
Venture Vehicles
Subscribe to Damon Clifford's feed
Return to Home Page
July 15th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Nice article. I also checked out the Progressive blog on the ongoing competition. I think its a good thing to focus closely on innovation in terms of fuel economy and “environmental” impact… but what about safety? I wonder how realistic a vehicle like this really is as a replacement for a car when taking safety guidelines into account.
July 15th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Safety is definitely a concern with these types of vehicles. The VentureOne safety page lists the things they’ve done to the vehicle for protection.
However, even though this is more safe than a motorcycle, if you’re not comfortable driving/riding a motorcycle, then you shouldn’t drive one of these vehicles.
August 12th, 2008 at 7:24 am
When will these be available for purchase?
How will they take care of maintenance: oil changes and other servicing for people living in other states?
Thanks,
John
August 12th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
They will begin to sell the VentureOne (V1) in California in 2010.
There are a lot of electric car companies in California and most of them are rolling them out there first because that’s where their HQ’s is at and they can provide servicing for their vehicles. Venture Vehicles, along with the other companies, all say that they will begin selling their vehicles in other parts of the country as they set up their retail and service infrastructure.
August 26th, 2008 at 3:29 am
Love the look of this - it’s de-throned my old favourite “I want one” over at alternativevehiclesreport.net, but the video you’ve linked to gets a ‘no longer available’ message. I hunted down a couple of Carver videos, which mostly matched was what was showing on the site - but I couldn’t find what the differences were between Venture One and Carver. Is it just the hybrid/electric options or is there more of a difference between them?
Crystal
August 26th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Thanks Crystal,
I’ve updated the video with one of the Carver.
The Venture One is based off of the Carver Technology, Venture Vehicles has the license to use the technology in their vehicle. There will not be a lot of differences between the two vehicles, only minor engineering details.
Carver sold the license to their technology to Venture Vehicles to manufacture these vehicles in the US because they currently do not have a plan to enter the US market.
September 12th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
The Venture One website no longer links to any blogs or other websites, and or discussion groups. They have not been answering messages either.
Have you heard any news? I was looking forward to purchasing one of these. I had filled out the preorder form, and even received an extensive marketing questionnaire last month. I indicated that I would be willing to plunk down a sizable deposit. Then poof, it is like they are gone…
September 12th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Roger,
I noticed that the last time I checked out their website and was curious about the same thing.
If I hear of anything, I’ll let you know.
September 16th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
I see that Venture Vehicles has put up a temporary page for their blog and it’s been down because they’re changing web hosts.
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I see that their blog is back up now. Along with all the old posts.
October 2nd, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Isn’t it interesting how the evolution of these next generation ultra high MPG vehicles look? Any one see Minority Report? Take a way the Venture’s three wheels, and you’re almost there! Of course those movie vehicles all ran on tracks, automatically. I wonder if they would win the X-Prize?
October 17th, 2008 at 2:47 am
These little vehicles look so futuristic it’s amazing. I can’t wait until the day that we see them flying around our cities. They really remind me of the movie Tron or Robocop.
Hey Damon in your opinion what do you think about safety of these on the roads and do you also think they will be released in California by 2010?
December 7th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Damon, great article. Another one for my blog :) I’m always wary of three-wheeled vehicles - I heard they had some inherent stability problems, although the way that this vehicle tilts when turning may overcome that..
January 1st, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Very neat pictures!
January 5th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Venture Vehicles is a great company and I’m really excited to see this vehicle in full production.