Ferrari Admits “It Hurts” Adding Weight To Hybridize Their Supercars

Ferrari conceded that it doesn’t really like adding weight to a car in order to use hybrid technology.

Autocar recently had the opportunity to speak with Ferrari chief technology officer Michael Leiters about the future of the company and its new SF90 Stradale and asked his opinion on the issue.

“It hurts! It adds 250kg for the entire hybrid content. It’s clear you can’t compensate for 250kg. You can do some by adding carbon fiber parts and structures. There’s also no mechanical reverse gear. You use the electric motor to turn backwards. We have a lot of these little things,” Leiters admitted. “To have low weight is good for a few things: acceleration, but with 1000hp that’s no problem. Then agility: how responsive is the car? That’s weight and inertia.”

Also Watch: See How The Ferrari SF90’s Hybrid Powertrain That Has A Front-Wheel Drive Mode Works

“More important is the wheelbase: it’s very important not to extend the wheelbase so you can have low inertia. So the wheelbase of SF90 is the same as the F8. Next is a low center of gravity: the engine is very, very low,” he added. “Then the front axle: the two electric motors and cabling weigh about 65-70kg, but the torque vectoring they give to 200-210kph [125-130mph] is the equivalent of about 200kg of weight you’d need to save out of the car to have the same objective assessment of driving emotions.”

The SF90 Stradale utilizes a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 with 769 HP and 590 lb-ft (800 Nm) of torque paired to an electric motor placed between the V8 and the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, and two additional electric motors on the front axle. All up, the range-topping supercar pumps out a combined 986 HP and will sprint to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 2.5 seconds, 124 mph (200 km/h) in 6.7 seconds, and hit a top speed of 211 mph (340 km/h).