Mission 06:
International Polar Foundation

Antarctica, the first ever zero emissions electric polar exploration vehicle

The Challenge

Returning from a trip to the Antarctic in 2009, H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco remarked to Venturi’s President Gildo Pastor that the research stations there had no environmentally-friendly, non-polluting vehicles. So the Prince Albert II Foundation asked Venturi to come up with a zero emissions solution, to carry passengers and equipment to and from the scientific research sites. At the time in 2009, the technology for driving on uneven terrain at temperatures of -50°C simply did not exist. The third version of Antarctica was fully optimised on 10 December 2021, when Gildo Pastor and his teams delivered the vehicle to the International Polar Foundation, at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica research station. Every day, the Venturi Antarctica is now available for use by the station’s scientists as they carry out their work.