Ferrari’s Electric Dream
In a post titled Electric Dreams, Ferrari outlined their expansion into the battery driven future, stating:
“Ferrari is aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030, and while it remains committed to internal combustion, a major pivot to electrification is under way. By 2026 approximately 60% of Ferrari sales will be split between fully electric and hybrid models”
No doubt the Purosangue will do most of the heavy lifting in reaching their carbon neutral target, with a V6 hybrid model soon to be released. The super SUV category has exploded in recent years with Aston Martin, Bentley and Rolls Royce also getting in on the action. The genesis of which is attributed to the Porsche Cayenne which famously saved the company, and the Urus continues to power revenues for Lamborghini who delivered 5,367 examples in 2022 representing a staggering 58% of total volume.
But ‘major pivot’ and ‘fully electric’ seem to suggest they have bigger plans than simply offering hybrid versions of their model range. So how will such an iconic brand whose appeal is inextricably linked to the sound of the internal combustion engine manage such a transition, and are there any clues as to what a fully electric prancing horse may be like?
For as long as I’ve been alive Ferrari’s marketing budget has been devoted almost entirely to Formula 1, in fact the road car devision itself was only conceived as a method of funding Enzo’s racing ambitions. With all those resources funnelled towards the project it’s a little embarrassing that, save for a turn of form in ’07 and ‘08, they have been beaten by a drinks company for the past 2 decades. This has lead to Ferrari becoming the source of many memes within the F1 community, especially those targeted towards their apparent ineptitude for strategic calls. Sure internet jokes are just a bit of fun, but consider rivals Porsche and even stablemates Maserati were dominating the sports car world during that period, and you’d have to imagine the cost-benefit analysis wouldn’t have made sense for any other company.
It was the introduction of the F1 cost cap then that actually lead to their greatest racing successes in recent years. With a new limitation on budget, Ferrari (among others) syphoned off engineering talent to work on new projects which would eventually give rise to the 499P and 296 GT3. The former winning Le Mans on it’s first attempt, and the latter taking an overall victory at the Nurburgring 24 hours with a customer effort in Frikadelli Racing. The 499P’s Le Mans success is even more impressive considering they were up against factory efforts from Porsche, BMW & Cadillac who also introduced hypercar programs at the start of that year.
Compared to their rivals however, I can’t help but feel Ferrari lack specific design elements or language that makes their car instantly recognisable. These hypercar projects were designed to support customer entries similar to that of GT3, and once you remove the red paint from the 499P, I think casual fans would have a hard time identifying it as a prancing horse. The Porsche on the other hand utilises their specific design language, the BMW sports unmistakable kidney grills and the Cadillac, a chiseled jaw that personifies the brands image. Not only that we’re soon to have Lamborghini’s effort which carries their distinctive Y-shaped headlights and aggressive angles that make it instantly recognisable as a raging bull.
All this to say, in a future where cars are silent, where once distinctive engine notes are nothing more than memories, how a car looks may become more of a purchasing decision than ever before. You can start to see Ferrari playing with this concept with the introduction of the Roma. The 296 and Purosangue do share similarities of the softer, more rounded design, but it is believed the Roma could be the first model in a design fork that the company will utilise going forward, where they can separate the softer more ‘classical’ models, from more race focused efforts.
If that’s true, I’m sure they’ll point to that being the reason they’ve just created the ugliest car the company has ever produced in the form of the SF90 XX. We’ll ignore the bastardisation of the XX moniker for a moment (they have previous here with the 599 GTO) and instead focus on the extremely messy design, with its childish colour accents and a less than elegant solution of a stepped rear wing. All of which point to the design fork giving half of the company carte blanche to set fire to modesty and drown tradition.
Sorry, where were we?
Electrification, right. In a Ferrari Chat post titled ‘So Charging A 296, Let’s discuss’ user Cadeaux asks some questions which are swiftly answered, before the thread descends into a confusing discussion on how and when the car charges in its various different modes. According to several owners, Performance mode drains the battery more than Qualifying mode, even though you’d have imagined Qualifying would be the ‘give it all you’ve got’ setting. There also seems to be an issue with the SF90 not going into eDrive when cold, unless you last used eDrive before shutting down the car. It all seems very unintuitive, very Ferrari.
A fully electric model would eliminate any hybrid mode juggling and instead distill the experience. This is a great thing for servicing costs, just looking at a schematic of the SF90 XX makes my bank account run in fear! I would like to put serious money on hybrid models becoming maintenance nightmares in due time. We’ve seen cars like the McLaren Mercedes SLR struggle to command the values you’d expect from such a creation due almost exclusively to extreme maintenance costs. With the complexity of battery systems, electric motors and several miles of cable entwined into, through and around the engine bay, invoices in 2044 will have plenty of zeros.
Ferrari do seem to have a plan for their EV models, or should I say patent. In mid 2023 news started circling about a filing the company has to add a speaker to the propulsion system of their electric models. They refer to it as a ’sound reproduction device’ so we don’t know if that means a reproduction of a traditional engine sound, or a way of amplifying the noises of an electric motor or transmission/differential. The Abarth 500e has a similar system that can produce a replica of the much loved petrol Abarth sound and play it through external speakers. The system is a divisive one, but it can be toggled on request which provides the best of both worlds. For what it’s worth, I’m not particularly a fan. EV’s need time to develop their own characteristics, and I don’t think that can happen if manufacturers are trying to ‘live in the past’. Through engineering we could arrive at some very aggressive electric offerings, that make all sorts of crazy noises as a function of the way they generate speed, and not anything artificial.
We don’t know if Ferrari will act upon the patent, perhaps they’re keeping their options open? They haven’t so far added complimentary sounds played through the internal speaker system like other marques, but the current crop of hybrid models do include a nice feature where you can boot up the internal combustion engine and make as much noise as you like with the loud pedal. A feature that will be present on the upcoming LaFerrari replacement. Test mules are regularly spotted around Maranello, codenamed the F250 and rumoured to be hiding a V6 hybrid powertrain. Details are still scarce despite a potential 2025 release date, but fans are hoping they can utilise new tech and deliver a package that is just as eye catching and revolutionary as its predecessors.
I’m intrigued by what is to come, but the road so far has been rocky. The introduction and swift departure of the F8 felt like an unfortunate stop gap for a model range they knew wouldn’t survive into the future, and they were embarrassed by McLaren and Porsche who’s hypercars could run in a pure EV mode 10 years ago. The SF90 had some horror stories when the batteries were left to go flat, and although they seem to have alleviated some of those issued on the 296, it doesn’t appear as if they’ve provided customers with a compelling hybrid experience so far. Will the F250 be a revolution? Will the full EV replace the 296? or will they just dump some batteries in a Roma and call it a day?
Let me know your thoughts
/Si
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