V12 plug-in hybrid for Lamborghini Aventador successor

Lamborghini stole much of the limelight at the Frankfurt motor show with its gorgeous low-volume Sian (pictured), but its innovative supercapacitor-equipped hybrid powertrain won’t carry through to the successor for the Aventador.

Speaking to carsales.com.au at the Frankfurt motor show, Lamborghini chief technical officer Maurizio Reggiani said: “While the supercapacitor delivers a lot of efficiency in terms of minimal weight penalty, the only problem is that it’s focused on power – it adds 34 horsepower while weighing just 34kg – and not on range.

“With a supercapacitor you can accumulate in the same space three times as much power as a battery. However, it’s clear that at the moment a supercapacitor cannot guarantee that you have the range to do even 5-10km in full-electric mode. The storage is not enough.

“For the Sian, given that it was the first application of hybridisation in a Lamborghini it was more important to say what is the DNA of a supersport car. So, the focus was to improve the performance while being as light and compact as possible. The answer to this was the supercapacitor.

“The 63 customers who will get the Sian will be able to experience that it has something more [performance-wise]. Unlike with other 48-volt mild hybrid systems, we chose to have mechanical traction rather than storing electric energy.”

According to Reggiani, the Sian’s electrified powertrain also fills in the gaps in torque delivery during upshifts with the dated ISR single-clutch sequential gearbox, creating the illusion of a seamless transmission.

While the supercapacitor set-up was deemed appropriate for the limited-edition Sian, Reggiani says it won’t be applicable to the eventual replacement for the long-serving Aventador.

“With a car that sells in the volumes that the Aventador does, there is another point that you need to take in consideration that relates to CO2 emissions. If you want to attack CO2, you need to have a battery that guarantees a certain range of full-electric mobility. With the supercapacitor as it is today, you cannot have this.”

Although Reggiani concedes the supercapacitor formula could be developed in time to be workable, he says a plug-in hybrid with a lithium-ion battery is the likely solution for the Aventador successor. While this entails a much heftier weight penalty than the Sian’s supercapacitor, tightening emission laws make it an inevitability.

But you needn’t be concerned about the future of that magnificently raucous V12, because it’s in no danger of being usurped by a greener twin-turbo V8 unit.

“If we talk about the Aventador, this is our flagship, and with the naturally aspirated V12 it represents the perfect marriage,” Reggiani says. “Lamborghini was born with the V12, and this the only engine that has remained throughout the entire history of the brand. It must remain also for the future.

“But if we talk about the lower car [ie Huracan replacement], it’s clear that everything can be discussed. We need to see what’s the best solution, also in terms of weight reduction and packaging reduction. The V10 can be one solution, but a twin-turbo V8 can be another.”

Some economies of scale will come into play as Reggiani says whatever hybridisation solution is developed for the Aventador successor will also be transferable to the next-gen Huracan. “This can be part of a platform strategy of electrification of a supersport Lamborghini,” he says.

Lamborghini currently has to bear the costs of supporting two entirely different platforms as the carbonfibre-chassis Aventador is fabricated entirely in-house, while the aluminium/carbonfibre chassis of the Huracan is sourced from parent company Audi, which uses the same hardware for the R8.

As for the ISR single-clutch transmission that currently serves in the Aventador, its shortcomings may be masked by the supercapacitor and electric motor in the Sian, but Reggiani says the next-gen car will need to have a dual-clutch gearbox.

Some reports have suggested the V12 engine in the Aventador replacement could be supplemented by as many as three electric motors, which, when added to the bulky lithium-ion battery pack, would make the car both complex and weighty.

While the impending hybridisation will add substantially to the girth of Lamborghini’s next-gen cars, Reggiani says a concerted effort to save every gram possible throughout the rest of the vehicle will offset some of the gain.

“I’ve also given my engineers the target of dramatically improving the chassis control,” he says. “You remember the first time you drove the Aventador S with its rear-wheel steering? This was a big step forward in terms of giving the perception of less weight in the car. More and more, with the control of all four wheels it will be possible to do something similar in the future.

“So, even if the car increases in weight, the important thing is that customer should perceive that they are driving an agile car that does what they want it to do.”

However, active aero systems such as the ‘ALA’ aero vectoring that featured in the Huracan Performante and Aventador SVJ won’t filter in across the next-generation range as these features will again be reserved for the more extreme limited-edition models.

Another key area – apart from CO2 emission-reduction – where Reggiani is targeting a big step forward with the Aventador replacement are in terms of everyday usability.

“Roominess is important because this is one of the major expectations of our customers,” he says. “We have one car worldwide and there are some countries where this limitation [ie lack of space in the current model] is really perceivable.

“In comparison to the current Aventador we need to provide much more in terms of comfort, for example in smoothness of gearshifting. Yet we need to guarantee that the sporting DNA of the car remains as it is today or will be improved even further.

“These two targets are opposite to each other but we need to satisfy both so that anyone who drives the car says, ‘Yeah, this is a true Lamborghini and a worthy successor to the Aventador’.”

Reggiani is emphatic that the Aventador replacement will retain the existing car’s brutal charm, even if it makes some concessions in terms of user-friendliness: “We always say the Aventador is a car for real males, while the Huracan is a car for everybody. This will always remain the case.”