The naturally aspirated V12 engine has been the cornerstone of Lamborghini vehicles because the very first 3500GT of 1963 inaugurated the corporate’s automotive manufacturing. When engineers moved that engine from the entrance to behind the cockpit to create the prototypical V12 tremendous sports activities automobile with the Miura in 1966, Lamborghini established the sample for such vehicles that continues right this moment.
However the solar is setting on such powerplants, as different producers have switched to smaller-displacement turbocharged engines with fewer cylinders in a bid to section in electrical help. The V6-powered McLaren Artura we lately drove is a main instance, together with the Ferrari 288GT.
However to exchange Lamborghini’s flagship V12 tremendous sports activities automobile, the Aventador, the corporate has retained its signature engine even whereas including electrical energy, to supply essentially the most highly effective common manufacturing mannequin Lamborghini but. Combining an all-new V12 combustion engine with a trio of electrical motors produces a mixed 1,000 horsepower driving all 4 wheels.
With the probably finish of combustion-powered automobiles on the horizon, it could be comprehensible if Lamborghini simply bolted an electrical motor to the present V12 and rode that motor into the sundown. However that’s not the course the corporate selected, so there’s an all-new V12 engine powering its hybrid mannequin.
“The Miura and Countach established the V12 engine as in icon of Lamborghini,” famous firm chairman and CEO Stephan Winkelmann. “Nevertheless, issues change and we now have new challenges in entrance of us proper right here and proper now,” he continued. “Geopolitics are a relentless companion to all of our planning.” Consequently, the corporate will apply hybrid-electric energy to all of its fashions, beginning with the Aventador’s alternative, code-named LB744.
The engine’s most basic distinction from its predecessors pertains to the engine’s place within the automobile. Because it has accomplished because the Miura, the brand new L545 V12 resides behind the automobile’s cockpit. Nevertheless, it connects to a transverse 8-speed dual-clutch gearbox bolted behind the engine, over the rear axle.
The Miura’s engine and transaxle have been transverse, sitting sideways throughout the again of the automobile. The primary-generation Acura NSX employed this identical format. However when the Countach changed the Miura, the engine was rotated 90 levels right into a longitudinal place, which lent that automobile its alphanumeric designation of LP400. The Countach’s transmission was in entrance of the engine, sitting the automobile’s central tunnel, simply as a front-engine, rear-drive automobile’s would have been.
The brand new L545 V12 engine, subsequently, is constructed 180 levels otherwise than the present technology of engines, because it sends energy out the again to the gearbox that’s mounted behind it quite than out the entrance to at least one sitting within the automobile’s tunnel. Whereas they have been altering the engine’s basic orientation, Lamborghini powertrain engineers additionally refined lots of its elements even whereas sustaining its 6.5-liter displacement.
Think about that the L545 is greater than 37 lbs. lighter than the previous engine and the whole combustion engine weight is 480 lbs. (218 kg), making it the corporate’s lightest V12 ever. It spins to a brand new 9,500-rpm rev restrict and includes a 12.6:1 compression ratio quite than the 11.8:1 compression within the Aventador, producing 814 horsepower.
That makes the L545 Lamborghini’s strongest engine ever, and that’s earlier than the help of the three electrical motors. By comparability, the first-generation 3.5-liter V12 redlined at 6,500 rpm and was rated at 280 hp.
These photographs depict the format of the assorted drivetrain elements from the highest, aspect, and entrance three-quarter views.
The L545’s consumption tracts have been refined to circulate sufficient air to assist the upper revs. And rather than knock sensors that permit the ECU maintain the ignition advance on the sting of inducing pre-ignition detonation, the brand new engine has switched to measuring the state of the combustion utilizing a pair of computer systems that measure the ionization throughout the spark plug gaps.
The spent gases exit by new headers which can be designed for optimum circulate, with additional consideration given to the ensuing sound, in order that the L545 is claimed to be “melodious at low revs, rising to a pure harmonious crescendo.” It is smart to double down the V12’s sound to leverage this benefit over extra mundane-sounding turbocharged V6 and V8 rivals.
The fun of the V12’s character is necessary to its enchantment, in order that was Lamborghini’s focus, defined chief technical officer Rouven Mohr. “It has efficiency by no means seen on a avenue Lamborghini earlier than,” he mentioned. “However it isn’t solely in regards to the numbers. It’s also in regards to the coronary heart. It’s the best-sounding Lamborghini ever. We now have labored intensively on the revving-up conduct and we’ve labored on [reducing] the sharpness of the frequencies within the engine be aware.”
The L545 bolts to a compact transverse 8-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT) that was designed in-house at Lamborghini and is manufactured by Italian gearbox specialist Graziano. That’s the identical firm that McLaren makes use of for its sports activities vehicles. This new transmission replaces the previous single-clutch unit within the Aventador that has been lengthy criticized for its clunky gear modifications. This new one is smaller, lighter, and faster-shifting than the 7-speed DCT used within the V10 Huracan.
The transmission is 22.0 inches (560mm) lengthy, 29.5 inches (750mm) extensive, and 22.8 inches (580mm) excessive, and it weighs simply 425 lbs. (193 kg.) together with its 147.5-hp. (110-kW) electrical motor, which is made by Mahle in Slovenia. The motor serves because the engine’s starter, it generates energy to cost the battery pack, and it could help the entrance electrical motors when wanted to reverse the automobile.
An fascinating utility of this motor is that it supplies traction management for the V12. The place most traction management programs apply the brakes to restrict wheelspin, on this utility, the electrical motor applies a load to the engine to cease wheelspin, producing energy within the course of that goes into the battery for later use.
Apparently, the producer’s identification plate on the e-motor signifies a ranking of 140 kW, so maybe this motor’s output is proscribed by the facility supply of the three.8-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack. If that’s the case, future fashions with larger batteries may have the ability to faucet the motor’s full potential. That battery pack lives within the central tunnel within the area the place the Aventador’s transmission mounts right this moment for optimum mass centralization and a low heart of gravity. When driving in electric-only mode, the powertrain has a variety of about 6 miles (10 km).
The V12 can recharge the battery pack in as little as six minutes or it may be topped off from empty utilizing a Degree 2 AC charger in half an hour.
Along with this totally revamped V12 combustion engine, its new gearbox, and its hybrid-electric drive system powering the rear wheels, there’s additionally a two-motor electric-only drivetrain for the entrance wheels. This method features a pair of British Yasa axial flux electrical motors and an Italian Texa inverter mounted between the entrance wheels.
Every of those motors contributes 147.5 hp (110 kW). The compact, pancake-style motors weigh solely 40.7 lbs. (18.5 kg), and their energy not solely drives the entrance wheels however supplies the facility wanted for torque vectoring, distributing energy exactly left-to-right.
