The Future of Bedroom Posters
What makes a car truly special is its ability to capture the hearts and minds of children who grow up dreaming of future ownership. Bedroom posters and magazine cutouts (or maybe a video game recreation) elevate a car and solidify its place in history. So far, however, electric cars have not excited the inner nine-year-old in many car enthusiasts. I don’t think very many children have a Fiat 500e poster on their bedroom wall, or spend hours building a Chevy Bolt in Need for Speed. Even Tesla, which makes some of the fastest production cars in the world, seems a bit reserved and boring at times.
But the king of bedroom posters has seen the problem and teamed up with two laboratories at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to create a new, fully-electric, supercar concept called the “Lamborghini of the Terzo Millennio”. Named the “Third Millennium,” Lamborghini has set its sights on the future of the super sports car in five different dimensions: energy storage systems, innovative materials, propulsion system, visionary design, and emotion.
Taking Off in Five Dimensions
MIT will be in charge of solutions for the first two dimensions of future Lamborghini: energy storage systems and innovative materials. As a solution for the former, the Terzo Millennio will be powered by supercapacitors rather than traditional batteries; and, as if the engineers didn’t already have their hands full, the supercapacitors will be made from carbon to allow rapid charge and more power capacity.
According to Lamborghini, both the Dinca Research Lab and the Mechanosynthesis Group at MIT are substantially financed by the auto maker. They will surely need every penny as Lamborghini claims that its new hyper car will have the ability to detect and repair cracks in its own bodywork; a claim that would make it the first self-healing car.
“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,” said Stefano Domenicali, chairman and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini, which is now part of Volkswagen Group’s Audi Division. “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.”
The design, as should always be the case, has been left to the Italians. And although the Terzo Millennio is still only a concept vehicle, past creations like the Sesto Elemento have proven that glowing red wheels and a cockpit almost over the front axle are no problem for the crazy engineers behind the fighting bull.
