Ferrari has shown me that EVs can be more than smartphones on wheels

I absolutely love electric cars, and will passionately defend them against most criticism. However, even I still see them more as smartphones on wheels: brilliant but soulless and sometimes buggy pieces of technology, built to be replaced when something newer and shinier inevitably comes along, or they just stop working. But now Ferrari has shown me how it will make an EV as timeless and enduring as any of its sports cars.

Like an exquisite Patek Philippe watch, a Ferrari is designed to last ‘forever’ and ideally be passed down to the next generation. That explains why more than 90 per cent of the cars that the company has made through its illustrious 86-year history are still on the road or part of a collection.

The Ferrari Elettrica will be the first car in the firm’s history to not feature a sonorous combustion engine and a set of glorious red cam covers. But as well as delivering the driving thrills customers expect from a Ferrari, it’s been engineered to “meet Ferrari’s uncompromising approach to building cars that will last forever”. 

How exactly? It’s all to do with the Elettrica’s battery. But not the fact it's an absolutely massive 122kWh, or that it’s been shaped in such a way that Ferrari could give the car a short wheelbase, making it as agile as possible.

Instead, the key thing is that Ferrari chose to use a modular battery pack for the Elettrica. The cell-to-pack approach, which companies such as BYD are also using, can cram in more cells because the battery is a single unit – but having 15 individual modules allows them to be easily serviced and replaced.

Designing the battery this way (not to mention completely in-house) means Ferrari can also upgrade it in the future. For instance, the brand could offer customers solid-state battery modules that unlock more range or weigh less than the nickel-manganese-cobalt ones the Elettrica will use when it launches.

Yes, some electric cars can be improved over time thanks to software updates – yet another thing they have in common with smartphones. But what Ferrari is doing with the Elettrica is on a whole different level, and will help preserve what will be undeniably a key part of the history of this revered company. 

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