Venturi Eclectic ready for solar/wind-powered launch

It may not have quite as sexy a name as its Fetish stablemate, but this golf cart-looking thing may be more practical. Venturi is off to their electrifying ways, getting awfully close to launching its environmentally-friendly Eclectic Vehicle. In fact, they should be available as soon as June 2007.

As you recall, the Venturi Eclectic gets its juice from one of two very Earth-loving avenues: it can either soak in the sun's rays via the bevy of solar panels, or take a page out of the windmill's book and get powered by the breeze, literally. If you're really in a bind, it can also be plugged into the wall.

They're only going to have about 200 units ready for the initial launch, each of which will be priced at about US$30,000, but they are going to bring the costs down for the full scale launch in 2009. By then, the expected price is below $20,000. Moreover, Venturi will be adding a single-seat variant in 2009 as well.