Behold: The super sports car of the future (via Lamborghini)
Meet the super sports car of the future: Lamborghini of the Terzo Millennio.
The “third millennium” electric vehicle, unveiled today, fuses cutting-edge technology with classic Lamborghini visuals, performance, and “the visceral emotion” of the luxury Italian brand.
The concept car—a collaborative effort with two MIT labs—aims to address “the future of the super sports car” in five dimensions: energy storage systems, innovative materials, propulsion system, visionary design, and emotion.
The first two were met with the help of the Dinca Research Lab (headed by MIT Department of Chemistry lead Mircea Dinca) and the Mechanosynthesis Group (run by John Hart of the Department of Mechanical Engineering).
One year after inking a partnership deal, Lamborghini and the MIT-Italy Program celebrate the first steps in an ongoing project “that intends to write an important page in the future of super sports cars,” Lambo CEO Stefano Domenicali said in a statement.
The concept car is a collaborative effort between Lambo and MIT (via Lamborghini)
Moving on from low-voltage supercapacitors, the manufacturer is working with Dinca and his team to close the gap on conventional batteries’ energy density, while preserving the high power, symmetrical behavior, and extended lifecycle of existing technology.
“The new Lamborghini collaboration allows us to be ambitious and think outside the box in designing new materials that answer energy storage challenges for the demands of an electric sport vehicle,” Dinca said.
But to support this “revolution” in energy storage systems, materials must change, too. Lamborghini enlisted MIT’s Mechanosynthesis Group to find new ways of making carbon fiber materials for the Terzo Millennio main body.
“Collaborating with MIT for our R&D department is an exceptional opportunity to do what Lamborghini has always been very good at: rewriting the rules on super sports cars,” according to Domenicali.
Perhaps most intriguing, though, is the ability to “self-heal”: The next-gen vehicle will conduct its own health checks, looking for and fixing cracks and small damages before they spread.
Other visionary elements include an electric engine integrated into all four wheels and a virtual cockpit with the Piloted Driving simulation (which sounds more like a video game than a high-concept function).
“We are inspired by embracing what is impossible today to craft the realities of tomorrow: Lamborghini must always create the dreams of the next generation,” Domenicali said.
[“Source-geek”]