Ferrari's Electric Car Matters

Ferrari

I wouldn’t be surprised if you read the first details on Ferrari’s EV with bemusement. The “Electtrica” was conceived in a world where luxury automakers believed there would be high demand for premium EVs. But that demand has failed to materialize.

Ferrari understands that; the automaker is cutting its plans to be 40 percent electric by 2030 in half. We also live in a world where there’s widespread enthusiast backlash toward EVs, and really, how relevant is an electric Ferrari that most people can’t afford in any case?

I’d say it's very relevant. Ferrari is one of a handful of automakers that lead in the field of vehicle dynamics, and what it does sets the pace for the rest of the enthusiast-car world. So, when Ferrari outlines all the novel tech of its first electric car, pay attention, and try to be open-minded.

Those novelties are, in brief, an 800-volt electrical architecture with a 122.0-kilowatt-hour battery; an electric motor for each wheel; a 48-volt active suspension system; and independent rear-wheel steering. The automaker describes it as “the first Ferrari with actuators offering control over vertical, longitudinal, and lateral forces in all dynamic conditions, allowing the Ferrari Elettrica to deliver the driving thrills typical of a car bearing the Prancing Horse badge.”

That’s not marketing speak. Starting with the F430 in 2004, Ferrari took a new approach to vehicle dynamics, one where it used sophisticated hardware and software in concert. The big enabler was an electronic limited-slip differential, which worked in concert with the traction/stability control to optimize the grip across the rear axle.

Over the next 20 years, Ferrari added more electronic systems to its dynamic toolkit—electric power steering, adaptive dampers, rear-wheel steering, all-wheel drive (in some models), and increasingly sophisticated powertrain-control systems. All of which work together to define the car’s handling behavior.

The results are typically uncanny, helping the novice manage increasingly huge power output, and making the pros even quicker.

The independent rear-wheel steering and active suspension aren’t unique to the Electtrica. Both technologies are featured on the Purosangue and F80. Electric-motor torque vectoring isn’t unique either, as the F80 and 849 Testarossa (and its SF90 predecessor) have twin-motor front axles.

But it’s the combination of ultra-quick, ultra-powerful four-wheel torque vectoring with active suspension and the independent rear-wheel steering that puts the Electtrica at the bleeding edge. Of course, all that hardware and software is only as good as what you do with it, but given Ferrari’s track record, we can reasonably expect it to do great things here.

Ferrari is also trying something truly interesting in using an accelerometer to amplify the authentic noise from the electric motor, and offering drivers five pre-defined power-torque curves that ramp up in intensity as you pull the “upshift” paddle.

Put simply, Ferrari is using the full potential of going electric, and trying to figure out how to make something typically unengaging speak to the enthusiast. Ferrari may be making an electric car because it has to, but it’s also trying here.

While it often feels like supercars are irrelevant to anything more pedestrian, you can bet every auto engineer out there will be paying close attention to what Ferrari does with this car.

That path that Ferrari started on with the F430 is one that so many other automakers are now following. A larger trend in vehicle dynamics is leveraging more, and increasingly sophisticated, systems to define handling. Ferrari is both a pioneer in the space and a benchmark.

Plus, the questions that Ferrari is attempting to answer are questions that every enthusiast car maker needs to answer as well.

Sure, the EV transition is happening slower than many in the industry thought it would, but there’s no doubt that electric cars are going to continue to be a huge part of the automotive world. And anyone making performance cars will need to sell electric performance cars. Lamborghini is putting off making an electric car, but you can bet when it eventually does, it’ll have some Electtrica influence.

So, don’t dismiss this car outright. It’s way more important than you might think.