PSA Peugoet Citroen teamed up with Monaco-based Venturi Automobiles to develop an electric van (based on the previous-gen Berlingo) as far back as March last year for the French postal service, and now it's being sent to Shanghai...via Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and finally China.
But wait! There's more! The trip will not only pay homage to Mr Citroen but it'll also serve to demonstrate the reliability and all-round enviro-friendliness of the vehicle. Also the team will be attempting to set a new world record for the longest distance travelled in a production electric vehicle. (That'll be about 80 miles then?)
But seriously, the Berlingo will be powered by a sodium nickle-chloride (NaNiCl or Zebra) battery pack capable of storing 70.5kWh so it'll give the van a range of about 200-250miles. Forget about payload because that'll be teh batteries. It differs slightly from the standard version used by La Poste, nevertheless Venturi reckons it'll recharge to 80% in about five hours.
Either way we wish them good luck and hopefully we'll see the production version on our busy streets in the near future. The journey starts on 2 May 2010.
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