Lamborghini remains on track to launch its first electric car by the end of the decade, but it’s not giving up on the internal combustion engine. Synthetic fuels, like the one sister company Porsche has spent millions developing, could keep V-12s and V-8s alive for decades, believes one of the brand’s top executives.
“I’m not saying that synthetic fuel is better than fossil fuel, but it could be the savior of the combustion engine,” Rouven Mohr, the company’s chief technical officer, told Australian website CarExpert.
He added that the new, turbocharged V-8 that powers the Temerario (the successor to the Huracán, unveiled last year) was developed to run on both gasoline and synthetic fuel. “The new engine has been designed to deliver optimal efficiency and performance with both solutions,” he explained. It’s not just about keeping emissions in check; his team also wants to ensure that the experience of driving a supercar with a big, mid-mounted engine lives on.
“If you ask me [about] the emotion side at the moment, I don’t see the [EV] solution that is convincing now,” he said. “Its time will come, trust me, because this kind of technology transformation needs longer.”
This partially explains why Lamborghini will plant its flag in the EV segment several years later than Ferrari. The first series-produced electric Ferrari is scheduled to land by the end of the year; Lamborghini’s first EV isn’t due out until 2029. It’s still too early to provide details about the model, but it’s expected to land as a fourth model line rather than an electric version of, say, the V-12 Revuelto or the Urus SUV. Regardless of what it looks like, Lamborghini’s first EV won’t immediately boot the V-12 and twin-turbo V-8 engines out of the portfolio.
“We should also not make the mistake to think that [ICE] will stop, because I can tell you, the generation that is now growing up step-by-step with the electrification of the standard cars, for them there will be a point where they say, ‘Okay, the old combustion thing is cool,'” Mohr opined.
Similar thoughts are fueling research into synthetic fuels, which Porsche has recently championed. These gasoline alternatives could allow new internal combustion–powered cars to survive looming bans, including one set for 2035 across the European Union, and they could also keep classics on the road for decades.
But at what cost and will it work for older models. Porsche and Lambo are the same company and push this but it sounds expensive.
Simple law changes can save ICE affordably.
Without bothering to research “synthetic” fuels, I fail to understand the difference. Did they combine hydrogen from electrolysis with CO2 to make something that is basically the same as what is produced through conventional oil exploration? It certainly doesn’t burn any cleaner and arguably take more energy to produce in the first place. So-called synthetic oil is often formulated from natural gas – a hydrocarbon that was obtained by drilling holes in the ground. In the end it’s all just hydrocarbons and one doesn’t burn cleaner than another. Claiming it’s carbon “neutral” or “sustainable” is also disingenuous.