This year’s Avant-Premier at Top Marques Monaco was legendary. Some 1,500 car enthusiasts attended the VIP preview on Wednesday, June 7 and, according to insiders, “at least half a dozen classic cars and motorbikes sold on the first night”.
Ticket sales for the 18th edition are up by 35% on last year as auto aficionados pour into the Grimaldi Forum to check out six global launches, 100 exhibitors and 150 supercars, classic cars, motorbikes and super boats. There is no shortage of Instagram stories #topmarques starring shiny McLarens, Bugattis and Aston Martins, all vying for attention amongst Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Porsche and Ferrari.
Sure, the usual supercar suspects are pretty to look at but dig a little deeper at Top Marques and you’ll find some awe-inspiring nuggets from Monaco residents. The Ineos Grenadier is an “uncompromising 4×4” inspired by INEOS Chairman, Jim Ratcliffe, and nanoFlowcell founder and CTO Nunzio La Vecchia introduces the world’s first 100% EV that is battery-free and can drive up to 2,000 kilometres before refuelling.
Nunzio presented the E-roadster QUANTiNO twentyfive (VIDEO ABOVE) to a group from the Monaco Women in Motorsport Commission (Commission des Femmes dans le sport automobile, pictured). Explaining how the car is not charged like conventional electric cars, he had the undivided attention of 30 women, no easy feat. “Our water-treatment system turns saltwater, brackish water or wastewater into carrier liquids for our specially nano-structured molecules – the actual bi-ION charge carriers.”
The electric car alternative, which can be refuelled with electrolytes sourced from 90% salt water, has been in development over eight years with over 500,000 test kilometres.
Nunzio studied quantum mechanics and quantum physics, and worked in R&D in the field of alternative energy technologies before he founded nanoFlowcell AG in 2013 (originally registered as JUNO Technology Products AG). The following year, he introduced the QUANT E, the world’s first electric car powered by his nanoFlowcell drive which had its premiere at the Geneva International Motor Show.
Ever since, the trademarked proprietary energy and n-AI technologies have become uniquely synonymous with the company’s “disruptive innovation power”. NanoFlowcell has registered offices in Kilchberg (Switzerland) and London (UK) and went public in 2021. Nunzio, who has been a Monaco resident for five years, hopes the nanoFlowcell Holdings plc subsidiary which opened in New York in December 2022 will help take the technology beyond the automobile sector, toward the aerospace and transport industries, and smart city development.
As for the QUANTiNO twentyfive, which you can visit at Stand C6 at Top Marques Monaco until Sunday, Nunzio hints the E-roadster could be brought to market by the end of the year … for sale in Monaco.
Top Marques Monaco is open Saturday, June 10 (10am-7pm) and Sunday, June 11 (10am-6pm). Tickets can be purchased online or at the Grimaldi Forum – €45/adult and €25/children 8-16, with free admission for under-8s. This weekend there is a Lego workshop by Bricks 4 Kidz. €2 for every regular ticket sold will be donated to the Monaco non-profit association Monaco Disease Power.
Videographer Martine Ackermann.