The Lamborghini Terzo Millennio Is A 'Self-Healing' Electric Hypercar Of The Future

An internal conference for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) doesn’t seem like the natural place for a concept car to be revealed, but the Lamborghini Terzo Millennio is no ordinary concept. The Lamborghini ‘Third Millennium’ is an all-electric hypercar, and it’s been developed in collaboration with two of MIT’s labs - the Dinca Research Lab and Mechanosynthesis Group - hence the unusual reveal location at ‘EmTech’.

It’s a striking thing, isn’t it? Not to mention something of a departure from the equally wild Lamborghini concepts we’ve seen in recent years, with its big, dome-like cabin and ‘floating’ rear wheels. We like it a lot.

We can’t do much more that gawp at it, however, as Lamborghini has been fairly light on technical details. What we do know is it’s powered by integrated motors living in each wheel, with every one capable of delivering variable amounts of torque. It gives enormous packaging benefits, allowing people from the design and aero departments much more freedom. No power or performance figures have been suggested thus far.

Rather than using batteries, Lamborghini is looking into using ‘supercapacitors’ instead. Lamborghini and Professor John Hart of the Mechanosynthesis Group is investigating ways of using elements of the body as “an accumulator for energy storage.”

In fact, the bodywork is probably the most interesting part of this project. The aim is to have the car’s entire carbonfibre structure monitored, detecting any cracks that might arise from accidents. A “self-healing” system would then repair damage using “micro-channels filled with healing chemistries.” So, it’s essentially the T-1000 in car form.

It’s very early days, but make no mistake, this is how Lamborghini wants to do things amid the rise of electric cars. The Terzo Millennio “embodies the first steps for Lamborghini to go in the direction of creating a ‘Lamborghini Electric’,” the firm boldly states.

Naturally, we’d love for Sant’Agata Bolognese to stick with V12s forever, but if the Terzo Millennio is anything to go by, the outlandish supercar company has an exciting future even without shouty engines.