Lamborghini has been telling us for a while now that electricity has a future in its product portfolio and it was little more than a year ago that the supercar maker collaborated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to produce a product of the future and well, here it is. Lamborghini calls it the Terzo Millenio concept and it's fantastically brutal, isn't it? Unveiled as part of MIT's EmTech conference, it's Lamborghini's first all-electric concept car (Asterion was a hybrid, mind you!)and there are a whole bunch of features it comes with like self-healing bodywork and even semi-autonomous driving capability.
The Terzo Millenio concept began as a project with MIT a little over a year ago
o let's get down to what the Terzo Millenio concept is all about. To begin with, it's powered by four electric motors, one for each wheel but instead of a battery pack, which we get to see in all electric cars now-a-days, the motors get their power from a supercapacitator. Lamborghini believes supercapacitors are the answer to many of the limitations of current electric cars. Supercapacitors can charge and discharge faster, and store more energy in a given footprint, according to the carmaker.
The design is brutally purposeful where non-essential space isn't covered up with body panels
f course another area of attention for the Lamborghini Terzo Millenio is the bodywork and while we know it looks absolutely stunning, there's a lot of research that has been done to bring out the desired result. In fact, one area where Lamborghini and MIT have put their heads together is the use of carbon fiber body panels as an energy-storage medium, essentially turning the bodywork into a battery. The material can also detect small cracks and "heal" itself, preventing the cracks from expanding and causing an outright breakage.
The Terzo Milenio uses supercapacitators instead of a battery pack to store energy
ow, while the Italian car maker might be open to moving to electric powertrains, autonomous cars is something that it does not believe in, yet the Terzo Millenio comes with a seni-autonomous set up and well, you expect that from a car from the future, right? According to the folks at Lamborghini, the Terzo Millenio can coach its owner into being a better driver by demonstrating the best line around a track. It would be just like going for a familiarization lap with an instructor, but without the instructor. The car is the instructor and this is one technology that is closest to being production ready.
Some of the components on the Terzo Millenio are closer to production
However, before you get all excited, the Lamborghini Terzo Millenio is not ready for production yet, there's a long way to go and the concept just paves the way for the future generation of supercars from the carmaker. Though the V12s might be given a farewell, performance is still closer to the heart.
