While Scandinavian nations are seen as a hot-spot for battery-electric vehicle adoption, one niche hypercar manufacturer has been quietly working on producing what it claims is the most powerful V12 hybrid system ever fitted to a production road car.
Zenvo Automotive’s new Mjølner internal combustion engine, destined to be housed in its Aurora road car, claims 1,233 hp from the motor alone and 1,824 hp when coupled to the car’s hybrid electric system.
The hand-built ICE unit employs four turbochargers feeding the 6.6L V12.
The Powerplant has been developed in collaboration with a team from Mahle Powertrain and assembled at the company’s U.K. production plant in Northampton in the nation’s East Midlands.
The engine uses Mahle’s Jet Ignition system, which has been in development for more a decade and is a key enabler for ‘Lambda 1.0’ (Lambda 1.0 means the mixture is stoichiometric, which is the ideal ratio for complete combustion; for gasoline engines, this is about 14.7:1--14.7 parts air to 1 part fuel).This is required for future European Union emissions regulations.
Despite its high-performance levels with a 9,800rpm redline, the Mjølner engine is a bespoke unit developed specifically for the road, rather than being one that can be more compromised in general use when derived too much from motorsport.
This engine, in V12 format, is the first implementation of this new modular architecture from Zenvo Automotive. From here, the concept will continue to be developed and used in different layouts across future product lines and models within the Zenvo powertrain family.
Jens Sverdrup, Zenvo Automotive, chairman, says: “At Zenvo, we are a team of passionate, genuine ‘car guys’, and it is not every day that a V12 engine is born, so it is a very proud moment and very exciting to finally showcase Mjølner.”
John Hollingworth, Mahle Powertrain, sales and marketing director, adds: “Watching the development of this engine from the ground up has been a labor of love. There have been some real engineering challenges along this journey, which have really put our engineering teams to the test, but they have more than delivered at every step. We are so close to hearing the soundtrack of the Mjølner engine, and everyone is waiting with anticipation to hear that first roar into life. It will be a defining moment in automotive history.”
