GoKawiilWhat were you expecting? Yeah, didn’t think so
Previous supercar superstar EVs have stuck to the established mid-engined typology, but buyers didn’t bite. Ferrari was never going to go that way and the world’s most famous car company didn’t get where it is today by shirking risk. In a genius move, they hired design agency LoveFrom to handle the exterior and interior execution: that’s headed by former Apple chief design officer, Sir Jonathan Ive. Creative types like to call this ‘contamination’; Ferrari describes it as an “unconventional, multidisciplinary perspective”. No kidding.
This a proper ‘wow’ moment, and we don’t get many of those nowadays. Welcome, then, to the Ferrari Luce, the company’s first all-electric car and a genuine game-changer. What you were expecting? Didn’t think so.
On top of that, the focus here is on versatility and useability. Forget the means of propulsion, the Luce has room on-board for five and a hatchback. That and the need for an aerodynamically efficient body explains the Luce’s spaceship shape and unusual surface language. Plus the unprecedented way in which it was designed and developed. Luce, by the way, means ‘light’, as in ‘lighting the way forward’ or ‘see the light’.
To recap: we’re talking four electric motors, one on each wheel, a power output of 1,035bhp, 0-62mph in 2.5 seconds, a 192mph top speed, and a range of circa 330 miles fully charged. It uses a 122kWh battery pack, has an 800V architecture, and weighs 2,260kg; not bad for a five metre-long EV.
Ferrari did explore an F80 -style EV, but decided that it was a philosophical dead-end, as the head of vehicle engineering, Matteo Lanzavecchia, explains. “If you have a mid-engined car and you remove the engine and fuel tank and replace them with a battery pack and electric motor, you’re not gaining anything in terms of centre of gravity or the moment of inertia.
“We are convinced that a company demonstrates its leadership when it has the courage to dare and to take on the challenge of new technologies,” Ferrari CEO, Benedetto Vigna, states. “[The Luce] is the result of more than 60 of our new patents and lies at the heart of an ecosystem of collaborations with outstanding technology partners.”
There’s also a separate, elastically mounted subframe for the first time on a Ferrari, which reduces NVH. There is an authentic sound, a vital component on any Ferrari. “A precision accelerometer at the centre of the axle captures dynamic texture and vibration of the rotating components,” the company says, equalising and amplifying it in a manner similar to an electric guitar. It works when the Luce is in Performance mode.
There’s more. Efficiency, energy density and thermal management were all prioritised. The front motors can spin at up to 30,000rpm, and can go from nothing to full tilt in less than a second. The chassis and body consists of 75 per cent recycled aluminium, which dramatically reduces CO2 emissions. The driver sits further forward and closer to the front axle than you might expect, so there’s a greater sense of command at the wheel despite the car’s dimensions.
The Luce enjoys unprecedented control of each wheel in all three axis – lateral, longitudinal and vertical – with particular emphasis on the lateral body dynamic. A new ‘vehicle control unit’ (VCU) oversees everything, and updates targets 200 times per second. The front motors deliver 282bhp, the rears 831bhp, and there’s mammoth torque – 5,900lb ft at the rear wheels.
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