Ferrari plots front-engined hybrid
European patent drawings point to a front-engined hybrid supercar from FerrariConcept drawings obtained from the European Patent Register point broadly to a future Ferrari Berlinetta hybrid with a front engine, rear electric motor and Tesla-style battery-laden floor.
First revealed through the FerrariChat forum, the line sketches date back to early 2012 and show a hybrid grand tourer taking basic electrification cues – batteries laid out flat under the floor and a rear-mounted electric motor – from the upcoming LaFerrari hypercar.
But rather than mid-mounting the petrol engine between the cabin and the rear axle LaFerrari-style, this one puts it up front. The space it’s been allocated seems set in large part ahead of rather than behind the front axle.
This might go down to the mitigating effects in weight distribution of using the floor area beneath the cabin to house the battery cluster, although it more likely simply shows the crudity of the sketches.
In keeping with what those who’ve driven Tesla’s Model S already know, Ferrari lists among the benefits of floor-mounted battery packs in its patent notes the cooling advantages of a broad, flat layout, impact protection, proximity to the motor, weight centralisation and low centre of gravity.
An early drawing shows 16 power cells laid out across this floor area; updated sketches from early this year show that while the floor battery remains in place, designers have made space for an “electric storage system” next to the rear-mounted power converter.
According to the application notes, the latter has the advantage of keeping the storage system as close as possible to the rear motor, minimising the harness connecting the battery, power management and conversion systems and the motor in what it describes as “a high performance sports vehicle [with] very small inside spaces”.
As US auto site Jalopnik points out, the drawings raise more questions than they answer, offering no clue to the size of the battery pack or whether it would follow in the footsteps of LaFerrari’s, which weighs a tiny 60kg.
They contain no engine specifications – it would be rather odd indeed if much of the engine ended up over the front axle, as the drawings suggest – and no reference to the sophisticated HY-KERS (kinetic energy recovery system) Ferrari has been working on for some years, and which it uses in LaFerrari.
In response to questions from Jalopnik, a Ferrari spokesperson said: “As standard procedure, Ferrari regularly registers patents while studying new technological solutions. No comment on if, how or when this particular solution will be applied.”
There’s one thing company chairman Luca di Montezemolo has made clear to media, however. Six months ago he stated unequivocally that while he’s in charge, don’t expect an electric-drive Ferrari. The shift to electification will stop at petrol-electric hybrids.
Key to design sketches:
Fig 1 (top view):
2. Front wheels; 3. Rear wheels; 5. Front-mounted internal combustion engine; 6. Drive shaft; 8. Electric motor; 13. Power converter; 14. “Eelectric storage system”
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