The Lamborghini Terzo Millennio (Italian for Third Millennium) is a futuristic electric concept car from Lamborghini, developed with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is the first product of a three-year, £100,000,000 partnership between the two, and was unveiled in November 2017 at the EmTech conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Lamborghini Terzo Millennio at a glance
| Maker | Lamborghini, with MIT |
|---|---|
| Unveiled | November 2017, EmTech conference, Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Partnership | three years, £100,000,000 |
| Designer | chief designer Mitja Borkert and Centro Stile |
| Energy storage | high-capacity supercapacitors instead of batteries |
| Drive | an electric motor in each wheel |
| Layout (if functional) | all-wheel drive |
| Body | all carbon fibre, with a body health-monitoring system |
| Entry | sliding canopy |
| Height | 1,143 mm |
| Autonomy | track-only autonomous system |
| Design line | part of the “Gandini Line” |
English Wikipedia is the only source used here, so the facts were not cross-checked against a second source; the car is a concept and not a functional production model.
History of the Lamborghini Terzo Millennio
A “thinking box”
Lamborghini presented the car with MIT, saying that working with MIT on research and development was a chance to rewrite the rules on super sports cars. The design is the work of chief designer Mitja Borkert and the Centro Stile department, and the technology was developed by Lamborghini engineers with MIT professors and students. Chief technical officer Maurizio Reggiani called it more of a “thinking box” than a production car, and stressed that it did not mean the company would build only electric cars.
Supercapacitors and a motor at each wheel
The car uses high-capacity supercapacitors instead of batteries because they store and release energy faster, so they can capture and release energy at the same time to add performance without relying on chemical reactions. Each wheel has its own electric motor, so torque can be controlled individually, giving stability like a modern Formula One car; with a motor at every wheel the layout would be all-wheel drive if the car were functional.
Design and autonomy
The Terzo Millennio inherits the Lamborghini design language, with Y-shaped headlights and taillights, a triangular front trunk and a rear engine bay, and rims with an orange glow. The body panels are all carbon fibre and the body is monitored by a health system. Passengers enter through a sliding canopy. A reported autonomous system would work only on the track: it would drive a perfect lap and then teach the driver the lap using a ghost car, as in the Forza and Gran Turismo video games.
Design and features
- Energy: supercapacitors in place of batteries.
- Body: all carbon fibre with a self-monitoring system.
- Lights: Y-shaped headlights and taillights.
Lamborghini Terzo Millennio versions
- Concept (2017): the only version.
More Lamborghini cars are in our Lamborghini collection and more concepts in Concept Cars.
Sources
- Lamborghini Terzo Millennio, English Wikipedia: concept, technology, design
