Lamborghini Urus is going to be a fully electric SUV by the end of the decade
Lamborghini’s best-selling Urus Super SUV is going fully electric. The high-performance sports brand CEO Stephan Winkelmann confirmed that an electric Lamborghini Urus would arrive by the end of the decade.
Lamborghini, as we know it today, was born on the idea of enhancing the driving experience and providing the “perfect car.”
Well, the auto industry has changed significantly since Ferruccio Lamborghini unveiled his first model in 1963, the 350 GTV. Despite several ownership changes since, Lamborghini has remained true to its roots, producing some of the most sought-after supercars across the globe.
However, as Lamborghini has witnessed over the years, to truly thrive in the auto market, it takes evolving.
After watching the SUV market continue to expand over the years, the iconic brand unveiled what it called the first “Super Sport Utility Vehicle” in 2017, the Lamborghini Urus that takes the soul of a sports car and combines it with the functionality of an SUV.
The Urus has helped propel the automaker to new heights as it broke sales records over the past two years. But Lamborghini is watching the industry transition again, this time to electric vehicles.
Last January, Winkelmann claimed 2022 would be the last year we would see a new solely gas-powered Lambo released.
Beginning this year, Lamborghini is focusing on hybrid and PHEVs as it progresses toward its first fully electric vehicle. The brand is spending $1.8 billion over the next four years with plans to convert several popular models, including the Urus, to a PHEV by 2024.
Lamborghini’s first fully electric model, a “2+2, two-door car with more ground clearance,” will hit the market in 2028. The brand’s EV will be followed up by an electric Urus model in 2029.
Electric Lamborghini Urus SUV due out in 2029
According to Winkelmann, speaking with journalists Friday and confirmed by Road & Track, the high-performance Urus Super SUV will receive an electric upgrade in 2029.
Lamborghini’s leader confirmed:
In ’28 and ’29 we will have our first two BEVs. We will have a fourth model, so today we have three models. It will be the first one to be completely a BEV car in 2028. And then in 2029 there will be the new Urus.
Winkelmann added that the automaker’s first two electric vehicles, due by the end of the decade, will help lower overall emissions by 80%.
Until then, Lamborghini plans to “hybridize” its lineup with an Aventador HEV due in 2023, followed by a Huracan PHEV in late 2024, and a Urus PHEV SUV also in 2024.
Electrek’s Take
Lamborghini is wise to convert its best-selling model overall, the Urus, to electric. However, waiting until nearly the end of the decade might be costly.
Several automakers – like Tesla – already have high-performance, long-range SUVs, with more due out in the next few years.
Although Lamborghini has established itself as a brand people idolize, new electric brands are popping up rapidly, stealing traditional automakers’ shine.
I can’t wait to see what the electric Urus will look or perform like, but by then, it may not be as impressive.
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Paris’ bike-share system, Vélib has long been considered one of the shining success stories of urban micromobility. With a massive fleet of over 20,000 pedal and electric-assist bicycles around Paris, the service has helped millions of residents and tourists get around the City of Light without needing a car or scooter. But lately, a growing problem is threatening to knock the wheels off this urban mobility marvel: theft and joyriding.
According to city officials and the service operator, more than 600 Vélib bikes are now going missing every single week. That’s over 30 bikes a day simply vanishing from the system – some stolen outright, others taken on “joy rides” and never returned.
“At the moment we’re missing 3,000 bikes,” explained Sylvain Raifaud, head of the Agemob company that currently operates the Velib system. That’s nearly 15% of over 20,000 Vélib bikes across Paris.
The sticky-fingered culprits aren’t necessarily professional thieves or organized crime rings. Instead, they’re often regular users who treat the shared bikes like disposable toys.
The city estimates that many people have figured out how to pry the bikes out of the system’s parking docks, unlocking one for a casual cruise and then ditching it somewhere far from a docking station.
Once pried free, the bikes are technically usable for the next 24 hours until their automatic locking feature kicks in. At that point, the bikes are often simply abandoned. Some end up in alleyways. Others get tossed in rivers. A few just disappear completely.
And since the bikes are intended to be parked at their many docking stations around the city, they don’t have GPS chips, further complicating recovery of “liberated” bikes.
The issue started small but has grown into more than an inconvenience – it’s beginning to undermine the entire purpose of the service. With bikes going missing at such a high rate, many Vélib docking stations are left empty, especially during rush hours.
Riders looking for a quick commute or a convenient hop across town are increasingly finding themselves without available bikes, or having to walk long distances to find a functioning one.
That kind of unreliability chips away at user confidence and threatens to drive potential riders back into cars, cabs, or other less sustainable forms of transport at a time when Paris has already made great strides to dramatically reduce car usage in the city.
The losses are financially painful, too. Replacing stolen or vandalized bikes isn’t cheap, and the resources spent on tracking down missing equipment or reinforcing anti-theft measures are stretching thin. Vélib has faced theft and vandalism issues before, especially during its early years, but this latest surge has officials sounding the alarm with renewed urgency.
Officials acknowledge that there’s no easy fix. Paris, like many cities with bike-share systems, walks a fine line between accessibility and accountability. Part of what makes Vélib so successful is its ease of use and widespread availability. But those same features make it vulnerable to misuse – especially when enforcement is limited and the consequences for abuse are minimal.
The timing of the problem is especially unfortunate. In recent years, Paris has seen impressive results in reducing car traffic, expanding bike lanes, and promoting cycling as a key part of its sustainable transport strategy. Vélib is a cornerstone of that plan. But if the system becomes too unreliable, it risks losing the very people it was designed to serve.
Meanwhile, as Parisians increasingly find themselves staring at empty docks, the challenge for the city and Vélib will be to restore confidence in the system without making it harder to use. That means striking the right balance between freedom and responsibility, between open access and protection against abuse.
In a city where cycling is supposed to be the future of mobility, losing thousands of bikes to joyriders and sticky fingers isn’t just frustrating; it’s unsustainable.
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