Generally speaking, the product strength of "Super Run" is composed of super performance and super brand strength. However, the fact is that in the era of new energy vehicles, the performance of more and more electric vehicles has begun to rival that of traditional sports cars, which also means that new energy power has become cheaper.
For supercars, once the new energy power begins to compete with the family car and loses its traditional power advantage, the so-called brand story will naturally become a flower in the water and become meaningless. Therefore, the challenge brought by electrification to the super-running brand is undoubtedly enormous.
It is not difficult to understand why Porsche attracted so much criticism when it launched its first (lithium-ion) electric car Taycan last year. Everything has cracks, and that's how light comes in.
Here comes the Ferrari electric car.
With the aura of Porsche, Taycan naturally attracted many eyebrows. Some traditionalists firmly believe that this is the last Tesla? Black boy is also the strongest one. However, the reality is that the mediocre Taycan has cooled everyone's burning hearts. To build a smart electric car, Porsche is just like this, and the sky over Stuttgart is full of doubts.
In fact, whether smart electric vehicles can be built well has annoyed not only Porsche, but also Ferrari, the last stubborn disease of traditional car brands. After repeatedly denying that electric cars were made, a patent of the European Patent Office revealed the truth to the public.
This shows that Ferrari is indeed making electric cars, but it is still in the confidential stage and will be announced when the research and development is coming to an end. According to Ferrari CEO Louis? Camilleri said that the company "is studying pure electric GT models, but the company still focuses on hybrid vehicles."
From the perspective of new car planning, Ferrari launched the first hybrid car SF90 at the beginning of last year. Straddle. By 2022, 60% of Ferrari's cars will be hybrid cars. Yes, Ferrari is accelerating into the hybrid era, so will it be far from entering the era of electric vehicles?
Louis? Camilleri gave another point in time, though in a negative tone, saying, "Ferrari will not consider pure electric sports cars until 2025." Considering the importance of this car and the need for a longer development cycle, it is entirely possible for Ferrari to launch an electric supercar in 2025 if it applies for a design patent now.
In fact, facing this uncertain future, Ferrari will not only put its chips on pure electric drive, but also have other technical routes. Louis? Camilleri revealed, "We are looking for different power sources, including liquid hydrogen and environmentally friendly fuel, to see which one is the most energy-saving and most suitable for future Ferrari cars."
Obviously, in the face of the rapid development of electric vehicles, Ferrari really panicked, whether it was to launch the first hybrid car, enter the hybrid era within four years, or express its love for electric vehicles in the opposite direction. Therefore, rich people who want to buy a Ferrari with a pure internal combustion engine should spend their money in Maranello, otherwise they will have to drive a "battery car".
The electric car, Ferrari will eventually launch, the key lies in when, how to use the product, and whether it can beat Tesla. Whether you face up to the competitive relationship between Ferrari and Tesla or not, Tesla's electric cars do set a gap between traditional brands, and Porsche almost "overturned". What about Ferrari?
Strength geometry?
Let's take a look at the strength of Ferrari electric cars. At present, there is no parameter information about Ferrari electric vehicle, so we have to make some technical derivation and analysis from this patented schematic diagram.
First of all, in the electric drive part, Ferrari electric car adopts four-motor arrangement, two front and two rear. This kind of motor arrangement is groundbreaking in civil vehicles, but it is very common in electric formula racing. In the reducer part, an electric sports car chassis engineer told the reporter, "Ferrari electric cars have a high probability of using a two-speed gearbox."
Focus on the battery part, which is the biggest reason why Ferrari does not push electric cars. As you can see, unlike other electric cars that put batteries on the chassis, the batteries of Ferrari electric cars are arranged above the rear axle. If we only pass the schematic diagram, the first impression is that this battery pack is too small to handle four motor drives, and it is estimated that it will not last for 300 kilometers.
At present, there are very few electric sports cars on the market, such as the new car company K50 and Porsche's Taycan, which are all questioned by the industry because their comprehensive battery life is less than 500 kilometers. It is not difficult to imagine that if Ferrari launches this electric supercar with a battery life of 300 kilometers, it will definitely face as many curses as the first two.
The low battery density and low battery life verify the reason why Ferrari does not push electric vehicles. But now that the patent is published, it means that Ferrari has either solved the problem of endurance or is ready to be scolded by everyone (you can spray it, do you care if I lose? )。
Where is the contradiction? Further analysis shows that the energy density of the battery is so large that it is difficult to make a greater breakthrough in the short term. To improve the battery life, it is necessary to increase the battery. But the problem is that for an electric sports car, the space is extremely "tight". How to give batteries in such a big space?
Many electric vehicles arrange the battery pack on the chassis, but it is a bit reluctant for super running. If the battery pack is placed on the chassis, the height of the chassis must be increased. As we all know, supercars have always been known for their low position, so it is not advisable to simply stuff the battery pack into the chassis in a sports car. What should we do?
Porsche thought of a way to "dig a hole" in the chassis. In order to solve the contradiction between increasing battery and chassis space, Porsche dug a hole in the rear chassis of Taycan, so that the battery can be placed on the chassis without affecting the low posture of the chassis.
But according to Ferrari's schematic diagram, it didn't do that, but put the battery on the rear axle, so the amount of battery that can be installed will inevitably be less. Let's make another hypothesis. Since we have given up the space of the chassis, is there any other way for Ferrari to increase the battery to make up for the battery life?
Yes. At present, battery packs are generally arranged horizontally on the chassis, with one exception. In the future, the rear axle batteries of K50 will be vertically arranged on the upper and lower floors. Therefore, although we can't determine the specific layout of the battery pack of Ferrari electric vehicles, it should be the most reasonable explanation to use the battery pack with vertical layout like the future K50.
Having said that, we have to praise the design concept of electric vehicles for advanced cars in the future. "A glimpse of the whole leopard", in fact, the forward-looking thinking of electric vehicles in the future is far more than these (see "Test Drive the Future K50: A Brave Attempt" for details). It is a pity that the future car has been exposed frequently recently that the capital chain is in a hurry and the future is uncertain.
Ferrari is not the future, and the future of Ferrari electric cars should not be questioned. But if this Ferrari electric car has a mediocre performance, such as a battery life of 500 kilometers, on the other hand, the Tesla Roadster with a battery life of 1000 kilometers will be on the market soon, will you spray it? Anyway, Tefen will definitely stand up again. "Hehe, I can't beat it."
Why continue?
After 70 years of wind and rain, I believe it is enough to make Ferrari open-minded. Therefore, no matter how blind Tefen is, we must face up to Ferrari's introduction of electric vehicles. More accurately, how to define electric supercar? In addition, due to the integration development trend of electric and intelligent, how to define intelligent electric supercar can also be considered.
In Marxist political economy, the essence of commodities is that they can be exchanged and meet people's needs. It has two attributes of use value and value, and it is the contradictory unity of value and use value.
Specific to super-running, as mentioned at the beginning of the article, the value part is product strength, and the use value part is brand strength. As far as brand strength is concerned, Ferrari is undoubtedly the winner of traditional cars, so the key lies in product strength. In other words, how does Ferrari achieve the power of intelligent electric super-running products equal to its brand power?
This is also divided into electric and intelligent points.
Look at electrification first. From Porsche Taycan, we can see that traditional automobile brands have strong ability in vehicle engineering design and manufacturing, but they can't solve the reality that suppliers are backward in technology. This also determines that even though Porsche and Ferrari brand electric vehicles still have unparalleled handling, they are extremely mediocre in some core performances, such as acceleration and battery life.
In the era of internal combustion engines, top brands have their own engines and even gearboxes. However, in the era of new energy vehicles, the core component of the battery has never been mastered by any company, which is the technical basis for determining the pattern.
With its own engine technology, supercar can reflect the difference in performance and product strength through technologies such as cylinder number. For example, 12 cylinder engine has higher social value than 4 cylinder engine. But if you don't have your own battery, it means that everyone buys the same battery, so the performance is naturally similar.
If the core performance of supercar is almost the same as the electric car of family car, how can it reflect the value of supercar for dozens or even hundreds of times? Social prejudice is hard to get rid of.
In the era of internal combustion engine, power is a scarce product. A civilian car is worth a penny, and the better the super-running power, the more valuable it is. However, in the new energy era, electricity is no longer a scarce product, and even becomes cheap.
Whether it's called "BYD Han 100 kilometers accelerates into the 2.9-second era" (see exclusive | BYD Han DM performance exposure, come on Tesla) or Tesla Model? S, even Roadster's performance strangulation of a group of super-runners can illustrate the above point of view.
Some people will say that the reason why super-running is super-running is that in addition to its bloody performance, there is also the supreme brand core. This sentence is true, but at the logical level, there is a brand with performance, and without performance, the brand is empty talk. In the new energy era, the most important thing is a strong driving force. Once the power advantage of traditional super-running is cut off, it is also the time when their myth begins to collapse.
The change of universal characteristic curve from motor to internal combustion engine means that electric vehicles cannot be compared with diesel locomotives. The relatively easy driving and control mode of electric vehicles determines that more valuable services must be added to them. At present, it mainly includes assisted driving and car internet.
Intelligence is another technical weakness of these traditional giants after batteries. This is reflected in the Porsche Taycan. For the sake of Porsche's face, many car critics will praise Taycan's electric performance, but in the face of that lame intelligence, they can no longer restrain their instinct to escape from the car.
The electrical performance is extremely mediocre, the intelligence is extremely poor, and the product value is in a mess ... Yes, the traditional super-running has ushered in the biggest challenge in history. Perhaps it can be maintained by brand power alone in the short term, but in the long run, it will definitely take time. Perhaps, in the new energy era, super-running has lost its supreme significance.
When the rules are reconstructed, how to continue to write the rules is an urgent task for all players: don't worry about where you come from, just think about where you are going and keep working hard for it.
Text/Feng Jingang
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This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.