The new Ferrari 849 Testarossa replaces the SF90 Stradale at the top of the Italian brand’s road car range, continuing with the same plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain format comprising a mid/rear-mounted twin‑turbo V8 paired with three electric motors.
However, with Ferrari’s application of hybrid technology used primarily to enhance performance rather than reduce emissions, the company’s admission that most owners don’t plug their vehicles in to charge comes as no surprise.
During the global launch of the new 849 Testarossa in Spain this month, Ferrari told CarExpert the key difference between the model’s four eManettino positions is not whether maximum power is available, but how the car manages battery use and recharging in each mode.
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Ferrari said all positions can deliver maximum power, with the battery strategy changing depending on whether the driver is prioritising electric-only operation, efficiency, sustained driving, or short bursts of maximum performance.
Ferrari continues to offer four power unit modes through the eManettino: eDrive, Hybrid, Performance and Qualify. In eDrive, the car can run on electric power alone, and Ferrari lists up to 25km of electric-only driving range for the 849, along with 120kW available in eDrive mode.
In Hybrid, the intent is to use as much electric power as possible for efficiency by switching the combustion engine off when conditions allow, but this requires a fully charged battery which it appears most owners hardly bother with.
According to Ferrari, most owners of its plug-in hybrids, including the SF90 and 296 family, do not plug their cars in regularly to charge. Instead, owners often use them as normal hybrids, relying on the engine being on and the system maintaining charge while driving, and more commonly charging them only when stored for extended periods.
In addition, Ferrari has used the last five years of ownership data to gain an idea about how its customers use their PHEVs and, based on that data, it says pure-electric mode is not used all that often.
The company claims the most commonly used eManettino setting is Performance rather than Hybrid. It says this is because Performance mode keeps the combustion engine running, which is how most owners prefer to use their cars, while also preserving a meaningful amount of battery charge by the end of a drive, which reduces the need to plug the vehicle in.
At the other end of the scale, Ferrari’s ‘qualifying’ mode is designed for short, maximum‑attack driving, with a more aggressive approach to using available battery energy and then recovering it whenever the driver is not requesting full power.
When the driver is not asking for maximum acceleration, surplus combustion power can be used to recharge the battery so more energy is available for the next full-throttle event.
Ferrari also described how the hybrid system can be used as part of traction management, not just as a performance enhancer. For example, if the driver requests more power on corner exit than the tyres can deploy, the car can manage that situation by using the rear electric motor to absorb surplus power, rather than cutting combustion engine output.
Ferrari’s claim is that this can stabilise the car more quickly and smoothly than a traditional ignition cut, while also recovering energy back into the battery.
Brake feel and energy recovery remain tied closely to this strategy. With the new 849 Testarossa, blending regenerative braking with friction braking is a major calibration focus of the plug-in hybrid system, with brake-by-wire technology being the key enabler for achieving a consistent pedal feel while still maximising electrical regeneration where possible.
Ferrari’s admission that its PHEV owners rarely charge their vehicles comes at a time when the company is trying to reassure customers about long-term battery support. The company’s ‘Ferrari is forever’ mantra is designed to help PHEV customers feel more assured that their battery packs will be reliable in the long term.
Ferrari claims that by bringing battery production in-house it can keep battery packs operational over the long term and enable upgrades as technology evolves. It has only recently made available an entirely new and lighter battery pack for the LaFerrari hypercar, which replaces the original system.
Over 330,000 Ferraris have been sold to date, and more than 90 per cent of them are still running, but the company’s move to electrification will also require it to maintain its ever-growing fleet of hybrids and, soon, full battery-electric vehicles.