There have been many famous duos in history from Adam and Eve to Will and Grace, from Romeo and Juliet to Smith and Wesson. But now another fascinating, if fairly unexpected, pairing is hitting the headlines as Lamborghini and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have revealed that they are joining forces to explore innovative technologies and the development of electric power trains.
Their first step in this envelope-pushing journey starts in a logical place for a project driven by the makers of one of the worlds most iconic high-performance car makers and a facility at the heart of technological advancement by revealing a super sports car concept it calls Lamborghini of the Terzo Millennio. Both parties are about leaving the competition behind, one metaphorically the other literally, and so they have revealed a car which is beautiful, embraces the new electric age and with some exceedingly bold ideas under its hood. A car for the Third Millennium.
And if Lamborghini are responsible for the graceful scoops and slants, edges and aerodynamic holes, it is what MIT have put under the hood which is the real story here. The main research is centered on trying to figure out how to use super-capacitors in a way that simultaneously captures and releases energy, and investigating ways to build the car’s body and components with carbon fiber nanotubes that can act as, and maybe one day replace, the lithium-ion batteries that power today’s electric cars.
But if you are inventing the future, why stop there, one of the other concepts being looked into is making this carbon fiber nanotube structure self-repairing, sensors that allow the car to monitor the structural integrity of its own body, detecting damage and cracks in the bodywork. The car can then ‘self heal,’ thanks to chemicals in the micro-channels of the carbon fibre bodywork. This may seem like the stuff of science fiction but the project is built on some very solid goals. Regarding the carbon fiber nanotube battery, Lamborghini hopes to settle on materials in year one; year two will be about getting the structure to store and release energy; and year three will be about building this into a 3D geometry, which would hopefully dramatically increase the possible energy capacity of a car this size.
Lamborghini chairman Stefano Domenicali said: "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. Now we are presenting an exciting and progressive concept car. 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.”
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