June, 2005

Update 2011: corrupted video restored and Youtube'd. Click to watch.

Note : the Venturi Fetish 'got there' 4 years before the Tesla Roadster. Both cars use ACP's TZero battery & drivetrain solution. (It' s only really on price that the Fetish is unable to compete with the Tesla - the TZero easily beats both the Tesla and the Fetish in terms of range & 0-60 speed)

  But first - Fifth Gear's Jason Plato(he's also a race-track pro - pictured) is clearly in urgent need of a little Fetish-oriented correction: for while we certainly appreciate the Monte Carlo-resident journalist's more than Platonic infatuation with the Fetish, his effervescent EV-newbie zeal appears confidently devoid of any knowledge of recent EV history and developments(never let research get in the way of a good story?):

"This is the first electric car that it's cool to be seen in and establishes Venturi as the absolute electric experts"
    - gushes Plato at one point - ever so knowledgeably.

Um - sorry Jason - but the Fetish's world-beating state-of-the-art powertrain and Li-ion battery/control systems were supplied off-the-shelf by one of the world's most celebrated "absolute electric experts" LA-based AC Propulsion and are virtually identical to those used in the stunningly cool limited production, Li-ion TZero - an electric supercar famous for thrashing a Ferrari, a Corvette, a Porsche, and a 500 bhp Dodge Viper over the 1/8 or 1/4 mile stretch(See video-clips below).

And of course the newer, again limited production, Li-ion TZero actually outperforms the (still) phenomenal Fetish on two counts: 0-60 in under 3.6 secs(Fetish: 4.5 secs) and a range of around 300 miles(Fetish: 200 miles).

    
Click star or car  to see - and hear - Roger Moore bonding with Fetish in Monte Carlo.

Anyone who - apparently like Mr. Plato - is not familiar with AC Propulsion's ultra-cool pre-Venturi Fetish TZero might like to race through the following video clips:

  
Li-ion TZero vs. 500 bhp Dodge Viper(2004 History Channel/EV Charger News)

Red hot TZero hits mountain trail

- More TZero video clips:

TZero v. Ferrari

TZero v. Corvette

TZero v. Porsche Carrera

Red TZero v. Corvette

Li-ion TZero and Ferrari Enzo
(Discovery Channel 2003. Clip takes 20 secs to start...but is definitely worth the wait!)

So finally - our verdict on Fifth Gear's report: beautiful car, top star, magnificent location and - Sacré Bleu et Mon Dieu - a British TV motoring journalist and professional, career boy-racer sees the light....the electric light !
 → 
But what a pity Plato seems so unwittingly keen to reveal that he knew nothing about cool EV's until the Fetish burst onto the scene and landed almost literally on his doorstep in Monte Carlo where both he and Venturi are based.
Yes - all the indications are that if the Fetish had been developed elsewhere(USA, Canada, Norway...) Jason would likely still not know of this cool car's existence.

Perhaps at some point the intrepid Fifth Gear reporter could hook up with another star and his electric car - Tom Hanks(pictured) and the Toyota RAV4 EV for example - and let the actor know that "in fact" the Fetish
"is the first electric car that it's cool to be seen in(!)".
No wonder mainstream journalists like to warn the public not to trust the internet - and thank goodness we can rely on highly-paid(enough to "reside" in Monte Carlo!) professionals to sort fact from fiction for the rest of us poor amateurs!