A 2,000bhp electric Ferrari supercar? Boss says no!

If you’re a petrolhead who doesn’t understand why anyone would want to buy a ludicrously powerful electric car like the 1,500bhp Xiaomi SU7 Ultra saloon, you’re not alone because Ferrari’s product development boss sees cars like this as “elephants”.

Gianmaria Fulgenzi spoke to Auto Express and other media after detailing the technology that will feature on the Ferrari Elettrica – the first EV born in Maranello. It’s being launched in 2026 and will produce more than 1,000bhp from four independent electric motors.

For context, the Ferrari Purosangue has to make do with ‘only’ 715bhp from its 6.5-litre V12 engine, and the legendary LaFerrari hybrid hypercar had 950bhp on tap. However, the seven-seater Tesla Model X Plaid produces more than 1,000bhp, and so can the Rivian R1T pick-up truck. 

Fulgenzi made it clear that Ferrari doesn’t just want to be able to win a game of Top Trumps with the forthcoming Elettrica. “You can see on the market some electric cars that already have 2,000 horsepower. It’s very easy and simple to create that power with an electric engine. It’s not difficult,” he explained.

“So you can see in the market a lot of companies that have never done cars, and now they’re able to produce a car with 1,000 horsepower.” Xiaomi is a prime example of this, as the Chinese company mostly makes smartphones and other consumer electronics, but now sells one of the most powerful cars in the world.

Fulgenzi continued, “But what is the joke? What do you feel when you drive this kind of car? They are elephants because you need very big engines and a very big battery.”

Hence why the Ferrari Elettrica will feature incredibly compact e-motors, derived from the company’s Formula One technology, and a modular battery pack that’s been arranged to help achieve the perfect weight distribution of 47% at the front and 53% at the rear.

The Elettrica also won’t be a supercar. It will be one of Ferrari’s more versatile models, with four doors and four seats; most likely an SUV, similar to the Purosangue. One reason why Ferrari isn’t doing an electric supercar yet is because the battery technology available today apparently isn’t where it needs to be for the brand.

So the Elettrica will be a relatively practical car but, as you would expect, delivering driving thrills and finesse are still the top priority. Fulgenzi told us “we wanted to create a car that is performing, but performing also every day”. 

He continued: “We don't want the customer to keep this car in the garage and only own it. The car must be driven daily and when they drive the car we need them to smile, to enjoy driving it.”

Admittedly, Ferrari’s road cars have been getting more and more powerful as it has embraced electrification. For instance, the new Ferrari F80 spits out 1,183bhp from a plug-in hybrid V6 – nearly double what the Ferrari Enzo’s naturally aspirated V12 engine could deliver.

However Fulgenzi says with its latest speed machines Ferrari has carefully balanced “performance and driving thrills, together with design”. And the same goes for its first EV. 

“[The Elettrica] features exactly the power, the characteristic of the engine, the time to release the power, the brake dimension, the weight, the weight distribution, that the car deserves for its number of seats and doors to be comfortable with a big space onboard, but at the same time thrilling and emotional, like any other Ferrari.”

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