Ferrari’s First Electric Car Is Coming—And It Will Be A Loud, Quad-Motor Demon

The Ferrari Elettrica is the brand's first EV, with over 300 miles of WLTP range and over 1,000 horsepower.
It's also got a clever active suspension, four motors and four-wheel steering, giving it full independent control over the motions of all four wheels for the first time in Ferrari history.
We still don't know what it will look like, but expect it to be a shooting brake or wagon-like design.

It's been a weird year for high-performance electric vehicles. As sales growth wanes and regulations relax, many high-end brands have delayed or dialed back their EV plans. Yet Ferrari, of all things, is forging ahead.

The Italian brand will launch its first EV, tentatively dubbed the Elettrica, next year. And based on what I saw at an early preview event in Maranello, it'll be a big departure for the brand in more than one way. (Full Disclosure: Ferrari invited InsideEVs to its Italian headquarters for a preview of its EV, and covered travel and lodging.)

With four electric motors producing 1,000-plus horsepower, four-wheel steering, 48-volt active suspension and a purpose-built 800-volt architecture [1], the Elettrica is shaping up to be the most sophisticated Ferrari in history.

This is an artist's rendering of the upcoming Ferrari Elettrica, and not an official image. Photo by: Motor1.com

Yet as rivals like Lamborghini punt their EV plans [2] in the wake of slower-than-expected demand, the big question remains: Is this what supercar buyers want?

What Is It?

Perhaps the supercar question is a trick one, because the Elettrica makes no claim to the supercar title. Ferrari remains cagey on the exact segment--the company still refuses to call its crossover model an SUV,[3] after all--but a slide during the CEO's keynote address drew a direct line between the old GTC4Lusso [4] and the Elettrica.

Based on that, and the mules we've spotted on the internet [5] and on the streets of Maranello, the Elettrica appears to occupy a gray zone between a shooting brake, wagon and small crossover. All I know for sure is that it'll come with four doors and be positioned as a grand tourer, not a sports car.

Ferrari still hasn't shared any official images of the Elettrica's exterior, but this is what it will look like underneath. Photo by: Ferrari

The doors alone suggest just how rapidly things in Maranello are changing.

Three years ago, Ferrari had never built a product with four doors. Soon, it'll be selling two: the existing Purosangue SUV and the Elettrica. Purists may scoff, but they were unlikely to buy the first Ferrari without an engine, anyway.

Yet it's not all bad news for driving enthusiasts. Ferrari is fully leveraging the flexibility and capability of an electric platform. A low center of gravity and plenty of power are a given.

But what's more exciting is the inclusion of four independent electric motors, rear-wheel steering and an active suspension system that fully eliminates the anti-roll bar. That makes this the first Ferrari in history with independent steering, damping and powertrain control over all four wheels. Ferrari calls them "full active corners."

Here you can see the rear axle.

Each rear wheel has its own independent steering system, electric motor and active ball-screw suspension, which reacts so quickly that the car does not need anti-roll bars. Impacts from one wheel are completely isolated from the other. Photo by: Ferrari

They give the Elettrica the ability to shuffle torque as it sees fit, over-driving the outboard wheels during hard cornering and automatically toe-ing in the rear for high-speed stability.

Suspension, rear steering and power adjustments are made 200 times a second. The front motors can be fully decoupled, too, so big drifts remain on the menu. I suspect that the company has more dynamic tricks up its sleeve, but we'll have to wait until it gets closer to market to learn more.

What Are The Specs?

The Elettrica may not be a sports car, but it's still a Ferrari.

That means it has to be fast. Ferrari claims the four electric motors can produce over 1,000 hp. The company hasn't shared an overall torque figure, but says it'll sprint from 0-62 mph (100 kph) in 2.5 seconds.

So despite that four-figure horsepower figure, this won't be outrunning Ferrari's supercars at the drag strip. Blame the weight. Despite extensive lightweighting measures and a claimed battery density of 195 watt-hours per kilogram, the Elettrica is still hauling around 122 kilowatt-hours of lithium-ion batteries.

That'll give it over 530 kilometers (329 miles) of WLTP range. Since that cycle is more optimistic than the U.S. EPA cycle, expect somewhere between 250 and 300 miles of real-world range.

The Elettrica's battery pack is a 122 kilowatt-hour (gross) nickel-manganese cobalt (NCM) battery, with cells supplied by SK On and a pack assembled by Ferrari itself.

Photo by: Ferrari

Ferrari says it'll be able to charge at up to 350 kW thanks to its 800-volt architecture. The company didn't share a 10-80% charge time, but an engineer did claim that the EV can gain 70 kilowatt-hours of energy (57% of its capacity) in 20 minutes.

Is It Any Good?

It's too early to say. I still don't know what it will look like, how it will drive or how much it will cost.

But I can tell that Ferrari is serious about this thing. The company has brought electric motor and battery pack construction in-house, using its new E-Building sustainable production facility. Ferrari emphasized that the battery and electronics are built with three important objectives in mind.

First, a Ferrari has to be fun to drive. Second, it must be able to sustain its performance in extreme conditions. Third, a Ferrari needs to be infinitely repairable so that a collector can keep it forever.

The battery pack is split into 15 separate modules, which can be replaced independently if there is a short or a degradation issue.

Photo by: Ferrari

Whether or not it's fun will come down to how well Ferrari's engineers can manage its weight and inject some drama. Given the glowing reviews of the Purosangue SUV,[6] Ferrari does have a history of making great driving products in segments that are usually dreary. And after driving a couple of its supercars, I'll admit that its final chassis tuning remains a cut above every other supercar manufacturer.

But making an electric car exciting is a new challenge, and Ferrari is bringing some new tools to the table. In addition to the quad-motor powertrain and mind-bending active suspension system [7]--both of which improve agility--Ferrari is also adding in some just-for-fun tricks, like its own faux-shifting technology. Rather than trying to emulate a gas engine, as Hyundai's does, the system basically divides its power output into five tranches, which you select with the pedals.

On deceleration, your "downshift" paddle controls the intensity of the regenerative braking system. "Shifting" also changes the sound. Yes, there's a sound, too. Ferrari does not and will not use synthetic engine sounds, so the company opted to amplify the natural vibrations of the electric motor.

An accelerometer mounted underneath the inverter captures the vibrations of the motor and amplifies them through a "proprietary algorithm." Executives are insistent that the company does not invent any sound, only amplifies it, and frequently compare it to an electric guitar. Whether or not it works well remains to be seen.

The Elettrica has an accelerometer mounted under the inverter to capture the vibrations of the electric motor, which are then amplified into the car's driving sound.

Photo by: Ferrari

To address the second goal, Ferrari has built a serious cooling system and its own power electronics, including the motors. The front motor can spin at up to 30,000 revolutions per minute, while the larger rear motor spins at up to 25,000 RPM. That alone is remarkable; a Tesla Model S Plaid's [8] motor spins at around 20,000 RPM.

The battery, too, is extremely dense. But the more important aspect is the signalling: By bringing motor and battery production in-house, Ferrari is making a long-term commitment to designing and producing world-class electrified cars. The third goal is to keep them on the road forever.

Ferrari may not be the first brand that comes to mind when you think of reliability and ease of maintenance, but the brand certainly has skin in the game. Over 90% of Ferraris ever built are still on the road [9]. So when people buy these cars, it tends to be a decades-long commitment. To live up to this, Ferrari built the battery pack with 15 individually replaceable modules.

That imposes a weight and packaging penalty, though, which is why this isn't a cell-to-body style design.

When Is It Coming Out? How Much Does It Cost?

I don't know. Ferrari says the company will have a "three-phase" launch of the Elettrica, with Wednesday's technology workshop representing phase one.

Phases two and three will be in the first and second quarters of 2026, respectively, but it's unclear if that means the car will be available then or fully unveiled yet. The CEO would not even fully commit to the name, saying only that it would stick "for now."

What's clear is that the first electric Ferrari will be a wholly new concept, not a one-to-one substitute for an existing model. That's in recognition of a simple fact: EV batteries are heavy, and Ferrari cannot yet provide the experience you'd expect from one of its supercars.

That's why internal-combustion cars and hybrids will remain in the Ferrari lineup for the foreseeable future. For now, the Elettrica tries to introduce a new form of performance car. "It's like choosing between a sailing boat and a motor boat.

Both are thrilling in different ways," Chief Product Development Officer Gianmaria Fulgenzi said.

Contact the author: [email protected][10].

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Insideevs.com?

Take our 3 minute survey.[11]

- The InsideEVs team

Share this Story

References

^ 800-volt architecture (insideevs.com)
^ rivals like Lamborghini punt their EV plans (insideevs.com)
^ refuses to call its crossover model an SUV, (www.bloomberg.com)
^ old GTC4Lusso (www.motor1.com)
^ spotted on the internet (insideevs.com)
^ Purosangue SUV, (www.motor1.com)
^ mind-bending active suspension system (www.motor1.com)
^ Tesla Model S Plaid's (insideevs.com)
^ Over 90% of Ferraris ever built are still on the road (www.motor1.com)
^ [email protected] (insideevs.com)
^ Take our 3 minute survey. (insideevs.com)