Lamborghini’s second car built from the High Performance Electrified Vehicle platform, the Temerario houses a hybrid engine that spins up to 10,000 rpm!
Last summer, Lamborghini revealed its second car built from the HPEV (High Performance Electrified Vehicle) platform, the Temerario. It follows in the footsteps laid by its big brother, the Revuelto. And while the Revuelto broke ground with a 1001 SAE horsepower, naturally aspirated V-12 hybrid, the new Temerario has a few powertrain tricks of its own.
Foregoing the naturally aspirated V10 of the outgoing Huracán, the Temerario gets a twin-turbocharged, 4.0-liter V-8 hybrid mounted behind the driver. And it also makes use of three electric motors to produce more than 907 SAE horsepower. And it will spin up to 10,000 rpm!
Move over Porsche 911 GT3, there’s a new screamer in town!
NOW THAT’S A V-8!
Starting with the V-8, Lamborghini calls it L411. On its own, it produces 789 SAE horsepower between 9000 and 9750 rpm and 538 lb.-ft of torque between 4000 and 7000 rpm. It is built as a “hot V” meaning the exhaust ports are mounted in the V of the engine and the intake ports rest on the outside. This allowed engineers to mount two large turbochargers inside the V of the engine.
Furthermore, the engine uses titanium connecting rods and a flat-plane crankshaft, keeping the internal weight down, lowering rotational inertia, and allowing the engine to reach a redline of 10,000 rpm. And that’s despite the turbochargers producing nearly 22 psi of boost above atmospheric pressure. To keep the fuel coming, Lamborghini uses a direct injection system with 350 bar (5076 psi) injectors.
GOING HYBRID
Three separate electric motors make up the hybrid powertrain of the new Temerario. Lamborghini mounts one between the engine and the transmission, the other two reside on the front axle. Each one produces up to 148 SAE horsepower on its own. However, all-three motor cannot produce peak power continuously.
The main purpose of the motor mounted between the engine and transmission is to aid response at low engine rpms and act to fill the gaps in torque before the turbochargers spin fast enough to take over. We’ve seen this technique for a little while now, perhaps most famously in the Porsche 918 Hybrid.
The other two motors take up space on the front axle and make up the front-wheel-drive portion of the all-wheel-drive Temerario. The front-axle will deliver up to 296 SAE horsepower and, please sit down, 1586 lb.-ft of torque! But, again, not for a sustained period. There is a limited amount of voltage and amperage to disperse to the motors, after all. Speaking of, Lamborghini uses a lithium-ion battery with a 3.8 kWh capacity.
POWERTRAIN AND PERFORMANCE
The one and only transmission offered is an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, which sounds suspiciously similar to the Porsche PDK. But that is nothing more than my own speculation. Volkswagen owns both Porsche and Lamborghini, by the way.
Regardless, that means no manual transmission, which is a bummer, but not a surprise. On the plus side, it delivers quick shifts and strong launches to allow the Temerario to storm to 62 mph from rest in just 2.7 seconds, which puts 0-60 mph right around 2.5 seconds by my estimation. And Lamborghini says it will eventually hit 213 mph if you keep your foot in it.
CONCLUSION
Enthusiasts will lose another pure ICE powerplant and a naturally aspirated one at that. But what we gain sounds truly awe inspiring. 907 horsepower achieved just beneath its 10,000 rpm redline?!? And all of it in a production road car—from the factory. Inevitably, time marches on. “Progress” occurs. You can either adapt or perish. Lamborghini adapts. And does so in a way to draw new excitement from its supercars. And in ways that will keep new generations of automotive enthusiasts coming into the fold with Jaws on the floor. What an engine!
