Lamborghini Goes Back to the Future with Supercapacitor Patent
While it is not a Flux capacitor, Lamborghini’s Supercapacitor patent indicates the company’s future moves towards electrification.
If there’s one exciting technology to keep track of in this era of automotive development, it’s electrification. Lamborghini may have just broken new ground in the world of EV and hybrid cars with a new patent for Supercapacitors. Working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lamborghini has developed a synthetic material for electrodes that will essentially double the energy density compared to current tech.
The way these supercapacitors work is far different than a traditional battery pack. Batteries work through essentially a chemical reaction. The advantage there is a long duration, but relatively lower output. Supercapacitors operate by electrostatic attraction between positive and negative electrodes on their respective surface area. Quick charging and discharging (acceleration) are the advantages there. The main source of Lamborghini’s patent comes from a new type of material to make those electrodes more efficient.
This new material aims to negate the main disadvantage of supercapacitors main disadvantage, which is charge duration. Due to the way these capacitors operate, charging can happen very quickly, but that comes at the expense of quickly discharging as well. With the new synthetic material, a larger surface area will allow more energy storage. This will mean a capacitor will have the ability to charge quickly, hold a charge longer and disperse with that charge quickly as well. For a Lamborghini, that equates to seriously quick acceleration.
The Lamborghini SiĂ¡n FKP 37 introduced us to the first V12 hybrid supercar with power sourced from a supercapacitor. Using this car as the base to showcase Lamborghini’s new technology only makes sense, but the tech can go to other cars as well. The Terzo Millennio was an example of what a full-electric Lamborghini could look like.
Three years of development took place on this project between Lamborghini and MIT. A long term outlook was cited by Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenicali who said, “The joint research with MIT fully embodies our values and our vocation for anticipating the future: a future in which hybridization is increasingly desirable and inevitably necessary.” Is this a revolution of the Lamborghini we have all come to love? It might end up that way but one thing is for sure, there will be no lack of speed or excitement.
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