The Ferrari F80’s Hybrid System Is An Engineering Marvel

This is the Ferrari F80. It’s the Italian sportscar manufacturer’s brand-new flagship supercar, following in the footsteps of legendary names like the F40, Enzo and LaFerrari. And yes, it has a combustion engine–and a rather impressive one at that–but it’s the hybrid system that caught my attention. (If you want to know more about the F80 in general, you can check out Motor1's piece here.)

The F80 is powered by a mid-mounted 3.0-liter V-6 engine that makes an astonishing 900 horsepower on its own, while the hybrid system adds another 300 hp for a grand total of 1,200 hp. But the combustion engine wouldn’t be so powerful if it wasn’t for some electrical wizardry. That’s because the two-seat flagship has electrically assisted turbochargers.

An electric motor that’s installed axially between the turbine and the compressor housing can spin the blades almost instantly, effectively negating the turbo lag that can sometimes spoil the driving experience in combustion-powered cars with conventional turbos.

Then, there are the electric drive units, which were designed in-house. Ferrari fitted the F80 with three electric motors–two at the front and one at the rear–effectively making it all-wheel drive (Ferrari didn’t say, but I assume the gas engine only sends power to the rear axle). Each of the front motors makes 140 hp, while the rear unit can assist the dinosaur-fueled lump with up to 80 hp–it can also do regenerative braking and capture up to 70 kilowatts when slowing down.

Carbon fiber was used extensively in the battery-powered drive units, including for the stator, rotor and magnet sleeve–all innovations borrowed from Ferrari’s Formula 1 program. Each of the front motors weighs just 28 pounds, the rear motor tips the scales at an impressive 19.4 lbs and the high-voltage battery is just 86 lbs. The entire front axle, including the motors, cooling system and inverter, weighs 135 lbs–it also has a dry sump lubrication system and can offer torque vectoring thanks to its dual-motor design.

Speaking about the high-voltage battery, it can’t be recharged from an EV charger because it’s not a plug-in hybrid, so the engine is the only energy source for it. That said, it packs a punch. Despite having a capacity of just 2.28 kilowatt-hours, it’s rated at a maximum voltage of 860V and can charge and discharge at a maximum rate of 242 kW.

Here’s the most interesting part, though: despite the F80 having both a 12 V and 48 V electrical system, there’s no 48 V battery, like in the Tesla Cybertruck. Instead, Ferrari fitted the car with a DC/DC converter that sends power from the 2.3 kWh high-voltage battery to the 48 V adaptive suspension, electric motors and windshield defroster, as well as the 12 V ancillaries that are typically found in combustion cars.

The inverter on the front axle transforms the direct current into alternating current for the motors, but it can also act the other way around and send power from the motors to the battery under regenerative braking. Another bidirectional inverter is used for the rear motor, which, by the way, is also used as the starter for the V-6 engine under the hood.

While this might not be to the liking of hardcore EV enthusiasts, it’s a sign of things to come from Ferrari. Its first-ever all-electric model is under development and will debut sometime next year with an estimated price tag of well over $500,000. If the F80–which, granted, costs an eye-watering $4 million stateside–is so high-tech, we’ll likely be in for a pleasant surprise when the EV goes on sale. Even if it has a speaker that pumps out fake V-8 engine sounds.