Let's talk about Ferrari and EVs

Hello and welcome to the second ChargeSmart blog for the year! Today, we will be talking to you about Ferrari's SF90. It's their most powerful car ever and it's a hybrid.

As 2020 is kicking off, let’s take a look at one of the biggest surprises from last year. Ferrari, it’s a brand synonymous with luxury, performance and that ‘Ferrari noise’. A car company with a brand so strong that they could sell a Ferrari pencil for $20 apiece and people would buy it. There was an expected shock then when the Italian manufacturer pulled the covers off their LaFerrari hypercar a few years ago. It looked like a Ferrari and sounded like one as well, but it had a hybrid powertrain. That made the shock a little less earlier this year when Ferrari revealed the SF90 Stradale. The SF90 holds the title of being Ferrari’s most powerful production car ever and it’s a plug-in hybrid! Yes, this hybrid Ferrari really is more powerful than the big V12s that Ferrari has produced in the past. The SF90 makes use of three battery powered motors and a V8, an unlikely duo but one that gives both noise and performance.

The battery is a 7.9kWhr unit that together with the engine, generates 986 horsepower and a whopping 760Nm of torque. That figure enables the SF90 to reach 100 kph from 0 in a time of 2.5seconds. That is properly fast! The SF90 also happens to be the company’s first four-wheel drive car as well. The SF90 will go on to reach 200 kph in 6.7 seconds and eventually, it will top out around 211 miles an hour or 340 kilometres per hour. The LaFerrari was an expensive limited run car and so was Porsche’s 918 hybrid and McLaren’s P1 but this SF90 is going to be mainstream supercar for the brand.

What if you take that V8 out of the equation? Then you’re just left with the three electric motors, two on the front and one on the rear which will take the Ferrari up to 140 kph. Though the battery only has a range of 26 kilometres. On the flipside, they do create more than 200 horsepower! The amount of power to the front wheels can be adjusted by the motors which makes cornering a surreal experience. Weight saving is important for a manufacturer like Ferrari and because the electric motors can drive the car backwards, Ferrari can ditch the reverse gear entirely from their 8-speed automatic transmission. Something which could save the car about 3 kilograms of weight. This electric motor is coupled with an oddly specific 3.99L V8 and in typical Ferrari fashion, all the settings can be altered through the steering wheel. Along with the wipers, headlights and so on, the buttons for which are all located on the steering wheel so you’ll never have to take your hands off the wheel! We can’t wait to see this Ferrari when it arrives on our shores next year.

Thanks for reading! Join us tomorrow as we compare the cost of EV ownership with that of ICE cars