Photo: Lamborghini
Lamborghini recently said that they wouldn’t follow the hybrid hypercar madness going on at the moment. The company explained that the current battery technology would lead to either a heavy or an ultra-expensive car that couldn’t actually build a strong case for itself, being nothing more than an image vector. Well, it seems that the VW Group is currently testing a new form of batteries that could more than triple the density. Sounds like a proper development for the Raging Bull...
Volskwagen’s engineers are assessing lithium-air batteries, with these using an entirely new chemistry that could offer up to four times the power for the same capacity. For example, this would mean that the current Golf Blue-e-emotion’s battery pack would be taken from 26.5kWh to 80kWh - this sort of power is close to what Tesla offers on its Model S performance sedan. The American vehicle has a range of up to 425 km (265 miles) and, despite the real world figure sometimes being considerably smaller, the value still tops everything else on the all-electric market.
Of course, VW is testing this for all-electric power, but Lamborghini could use the much denser batteries to come up with a hybrid development that would rival the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder.
Li-air batteries have been around since the 1970s, but they never really caught on until a few years ago, when the demand for superior batteries, as well as the advances in terms of materials, turned them into a viable proposition. Nevertheless, these are still in the early development phase. The basic difference to the Li-ion batteries is that, at the cathode, lithium ions coming from the anode recombine with oxygen.
This is VW’s in-house technology and, as expected, the company refused to offer further details on the chemistry.
Mind you, while the new technology could allow Lamborghini to build a hybrid hypercar, this isn’t too likely to happen. As the Raging Bull said, such development work as marketing instruments rather than actual cars and the VW Group already has the Porsche 918 Spyder. A second development of this kind would probably be too much.
Besides, now that Lamborghini uses Audi’s technical support, the company likes to focus on offering a pure spirit to its customers. Let’s just say that hybrid power ins’t exactly the first choice when it comes to that.
Fret not eco fans, we will receive some truly efficiency VWs instead...
Of course, VW is testing this for all-electric power, but Lamborghini could use the much denser batteries to come up with a hybrid development that would rival the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder.
Li-air batteries have been around since the 1970s, but they never really caught on until a few years ago, when the demand for superior batteries, as well as the advances in terms of materials, turned them into a viable proposition. Nevertheless, these are still in the early development phase. The basic difference to the Li-ion batteries is that, at the cathode, lithium ions coming from the anode recombine with oxygen.
This is VW’s in-house technology and, as expected, the company refused to offer further details on the chemistry.
Mind you, while the new technology could allow Lamborghini to build a hybrid hypercar, this isn’t too likely to happen. As the Raging Bull said, such development work as marketing instruments rather than actual cars and the VW Group already has the Porsche 918 Spyder. A second development of this kind would probably be too much.
Besides, now that Lamborghini uses Audi’s technical support, the company likes to focus on offering a pure spirit to its customers. Let’s just say that hybrid power ins’t exactly the first choice when it comes to that.
Fret not eco fans, we will receive some truly efficiency VWs instead...
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