Forget What You Expect From The Revuelto’s PHEV Technology

Only 12 minutes in with the Revuelto and there I was, parked on the left shoulder of Montreal’s ultra-busy Highway 20. Police cherries were flashing in my rearview mirror, motorists were flipping me off for causing traffic, and my buddy Max, who was the chosen candidate to assist me with the logistics of picking up this raging bull, was busy finding the press car’s papers in the glove compartment.

We were being pulled over for using the dedicated fast-lane for electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), one of Quebec’s perks for owning these types of cars. After all, the Revuelto, the latest in a long line of top-flight V-12-powered Lamborghinis, also happens to be a PHEV. It therefore only made sense to put it to good use during rush-hour traffic. But it didn’t take long for a nearby police cruiser to call BS on my attempts at being green, instantly motivating it to flip on its sirens and aggressively cut traffic to chase me off the road.

Base Trim Engine

6.5L V12 Plug-in Hybrid

Base Trim Transmission

8-Speed Automatic

Base Trim Drivetrain

All-Wheel Drive

Base Trim Horsepower

1,001 hp

Base Trim Torque

534 lb-ft @ 6750 rpm

Fuel Economy

TBC

Make

Lamborghini

Model

Revuelto

Segment

Supercar

“Good morning sir, I’m pulling you over regarding your use of the dedicated fast lane,” he informed through the Revuelto’s slim window opening.

“It’s a plug-in hybrid, Mr. Officer,” I replied as the car’s subtle hum whispered in the background, as if its heart had been transplanted from a Toyota Prius. “Oh, it’s electric?” Flabbergasted, the officer quickly changed his demeanor, didn’t even ask for my papers, and quickly wished me a nice day, not forgetting to compliment the car in the process.

Evidently, he wasn’t aware of the big Lambo’s latest party trick. I mean, do you blame him? You do not see this thing coming. You expect it to be A, when in fact, it’s actually B. And what a fantastic B this is, as PHEV technology actually helps improve this flagship supercar in areas I didn’t even know existed.

The Revuelto’s PHEV Technology Is Not An Afterthought

To be totally fair here, there was a bit of hypocrisy with what I did in that reserved lane. While, yes, the Revuelto’s PHEV tech will allow it to run in full EV mode once its 3.4-kWh lithium-ion battery is fully charged, the electrification aspect only makes up, at best, about 10-percent of the car.

In reality, the Revuelto can only cover about 5 miles in full electric mode thanks to two electric motors mounted on the car’s front axle. The rest of the time, it’s the naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V-12 that’s doing most of the heavy lifting, either in full gas-guzzling mode, or in a slightly tamer and cleaner hybrid setup, courtesy of a third electric motor squeezed inside the eight-speed automatic transmission.

William Clavey | TopSpeed

But what surprised me the most about the way the technology was integrated into this fighter-jet on wheels, is how Lamborghini actually puts it to good use. Yes, the Revuelto’s electrification is the result of increasingly stringent emissions regulations and fuel economy standards, as well as ever-stricter noise regulations, especially in Europe. But instead of shoving it into the car as a means to comply, Lamborghini actually took this stuff seriously and baked it into a list of requests from former Aventador owners.

Electrification Is Directly Linked To Owner Feedback

William Clavey | TopSpeed

The day I picked up the Revuelto, a Lamborghini representative was explaining to me that the reason this car is still powered by a V-12, is precisely because of the success of the Aventador. Through targeted owner surveys, it was revealed that owners would only purchase Lamborghini’s new flagship if it preserved its iconic twelve-cylinder setup, a characteristic that has been consistent throughout the car’s lineage; Miura, Countach, Diablo, Murceliago and Aventador.

But these same owners had other criteria. They complained about the Aventador’s daily usability. As weird as this may sound, some owners actually wanted to drive their Lamborghini more often, but ended up opting for their Mercedes instead due to back aches, flexibility issues, or the general loud and ostentatious nature of the beast. This all sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Aren’t Lambos supposed to be about extravagance? Loud, brash, and in your face has always been the appeal of these cars, and how Lamborghini has always set itself apart from its main rival, Ferrari. But there’s a harsh reality that comes with supercar ownership, a reality that Lamborghini has finally chosen to address with the Revuelto.

For instance, the Revuelto’s scissor door openings are wider than those of an Aventador to ease ingress and egress. The car’s dampers were carefully massaged to give the car a much more compliant ride when driving it casually, an improvement that was instantly noticed the moment I started driving the car on Montreal’s notoriously awful roads.

And while this Lambo’s PHEV technology doesn’t grant the car much EV range, Aventador owners were getting a bit fed up with the fact that they’d constantly wake up their neighborhood when firing up that raspy V-12 in the morning. In the Revuelto, that V-12 now gets a set of exhaust valves that only open past 3,500 rpm. So even when it’s burbling behind your head, the engine will only start yelping once it starts climbing the rev counter.

William Clavey | TopSpeed

The end result of this careful attention to what owners actually want is an Italian supercar that’s no longer only a loud attention-grabber, but one that can also instantly transform its personality into a civilized, quiet, and actually comfortable automobile. Using it to do casual daily errands is now a much more enjoyable affair. And while on the topic of attention-grabbing, something I myself ended up being annoyed by due to the endless crowds of car spotters that kept flocking around my test unit, I can see the appeal of creeping out of your neighborhood in full EV mode to no longer attract attention. I ended up doing this more often than I had originally anticipated.

13 Drive Modes

William Clavey | TopSpeed

And that, the ability to either be a silent, stealthy neighborhood crawler, but also a screaming hooligan, allows the Revuelto to be a much more charismatic and dual-faceted machine than the Aventador ever dreamed of being. There are no fewer than 13 drive modes to choose from, all selectable via two rotating dials on the car’s steering wheel. Want your Revuelto to be a firm, great-handling hybrid that alternates between gasoline and electric propulsion to save fuel? It can totally do that.

But of course, anyone driving a flagship Lamborghini expects it to be one hell of a roller-coaster ride once all hell breaks loose. And while this tremendous complexity and added weight (4,300 pounds) may appear like it has diluted the big Lambo’s personality, once everything operates in tandem, you actually end up with the fastest, most visceral Lamborghini experience to date.

2025 Lamborghini Revuelto Technical Specifications

Combined, the car puts down a staggering 1,001 horsepower and 1,044 pound-feet of torque to all four wheels, leading to a 2.2-second 0-60 MPH time (but some folks have actually achieved better) and a supercar-approved 217 mph top speed.

Sure, the V-12’s wail only activates around 4,000 rpm. But while late to the party, it still makes sure to steal the show upon arrival. It sings, rasps, burbles, and screams up to 9,000 rpm. In Corsa mode — the Revuelto’s most performance-focused drive mode — your only option is to shift the column-mounted paddle shifters yourself. Thankfully, they’re large and easily accessible, making grabbing them a breeze as you try to keep up with the V-12’s furious might. Sant’Agata’s latest bull may have grown more mature, more civilized, but it hasn’t forgotten its party years. This is still a proper Lambo.

I could go on about how comfortable the Revuelto’s seats are, how well the car integrates wireless Android Auto (in my case), and how its digital instrumentation can be fully tailored to your liking, or your favorite drive mode. Heck, even your passenger gets a chunk of the telemetry right there in their face thanks to a passenger-mounted screen. But it all takes a backseat to the overall experience of attaining aircraft-like velocities within seconds.

Purple seats and equally purple brake calipers seem to have been the preferred specification of my Grigio Hati, $1 million example (actually light grey). But you can obviously spec your Revuelto in any color combination you want, with options costing as much as $30,000 a piece. Hey, you’re in Lambo territory. Did you expect otherwise?

The good news here is that although the Revuelto has adapted to new realities, Lamborghini took advantage of the situation to elevate its iconic flagship to new heights. The V-12 lives on, but the Revuelto also proves that electrification can indeed add character to even the most rambunctious bull.