Lamborghini Tosca ... the hybrid test mule hiding under an Aventador

[lambocars]

(photo by AutomobileMag.com)

The Lamborghini Tosca looks like an Aventador finished in Arancio Argos on the outside, but inside things are very different, the original 700hp V12 engine has been replaced by the V10 taken from the Huracan, at 610hp this 5.2 liter package is smaller than the 6.5 liter V12 and offers a better power to displacement ratio (108hp/l for the V12 against 117hp/l for the V10).

Because of the smaller space required by the V10 engine the addition of three electric motors and a 200 Kw battery pack required to power them is much easier compared to the much larger V12 engine. Maurizio Reggiani explained the Lamborghini Tosca is still a four wheel drive car, but the front wheels are powered by electric motors while the V10 powers the rear wheels only. The third electric engine which includes a starter motor and generator, is positioned between the V10 engine and the seven-speed transmission.

Even with the removal of the mechanical four wheel drive system from the original Aventador drivetrain, the addition of 205 kg of motors and batteries increases the overall weight of the Tosca well beyond the 1575 kg of the V12 base ... and after that the problem with the batteries comes into play again ... how will their performance degrade over time, how many times can they be charged before they have to be replaced, the weight is still a major issue right now as is their large size ... and let's not forget the actual cost of the battery packs.

There is no denying the fact the Lamborghini Tosca weighs more than the original Aventador or the new Superveloce, but keep in mind there is at least 160hp more available too, so even if we add the 205 kg of the hybrid system, take 50 kg away for the mechanical four wheel drive system we could guess the Tosca puts 1730 kg on the scales ... that is still 0.526 hp/kg ... compare that with 0.49 hp/kg on the Aventador Superveloce and 0.44 hp/kg for the regular Aventador and the Tosca might just leave both of them in a cloud of dust while accelerating from a standstill.

Remember electric motors deliver an instant torque, in this case a total of 295 lb-ft ... add this to the V10's 509 lb-ft and you reach an impressive maximum torque figure of 804 lb-ft, so even if top speed isn't as high as the Superveloce's top speed, red light acceleration might beat the latter each time ... but is all this worth it you might ask.

At this moment it would not make sense to create an Aventador/Tosca hybrid to be sold in larger numbers to customers, sources at Audi AG mentioned a total, additional cost of $90,000 per car for the parts alone, add the costs of development and dealer maintenance into the equation and the MSRP for a Lamborghini Tosca could easily go into the $1,000,000 region ... which happens to be the mark on the LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 ... thus explaining why those are so expensive in the first place, developing a hybrid system for a super car isn't easy, nor cheap. -

Read more at: www.LamboCARS.com

[Hurricane]

Thanks for sharing this with us, Mark! I think that this setup is pretty much identical to the Asterion, right?


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[lambocars]

Thanks for sharing this with us, Mark! I think that this setup is pretty much identical to the Asterion, right?

It is exactly the same as the Asterion, Lamborghini removed the V12 because it was too large to add the electric motors.