Lamborghini in 2021 confirmed plans to launch an EV later this decade as a fourth model line, but don’t count on it being a supercar.
In an interview with Motor1 published on Monday, Rouven Mohr, Lamborghini’s R&D chief, said EV technology hasn’t advanced to the point where it is truly ready for supercar applications. He also said it still might not be ready even five or six years down the line.
“On the super sports car, we believe that at the moment it is not the right time [for EVs], and also probably the next five, six years,” he said.
The reason? It isn’t a lack of pace, as companies like Rimac and Lotus have demonstrated with their respective Nevera and Evija electric hypercars, but rather the heavy weight of EVs and their lack of consistent performance.
Rouven Mohr
“We want to avoid this additional weight,” he said. “We want to avoid the performance depending strongly on the state of the charge of the battery and on the temperature.”
Lamborghini hasn’t said what form its first EV will take, but former CEO Stefano Domenicali in 2019 hinted at a fourth model line likely being a 2+2 grand tourer, something akin to a modern Espada.
Lamborghini will also add electrification to its next generation of supercars. A successor to the Aventador due out in the spring will feature a newly developed V-12 engine in combination with plug-in hybrid technology. The eventual successor to the Huracán is also expected to go down the plug-in hybrid route, though perhaps with a turbocharged V-8 instead of the Huracán’s V-10.