Automobili Pininfarina, an Italian designer of luxury vehicles that fall under the “cars I’ll never be able to afford” category, has announced that its new electric hypercar, the Battista, has successfully completed its first round of high-speed and handling tests. The company’s goal is “to be the most desirable and sustainable luxury electric carmaker in the world.” We’ll get to the sustainable part later, but I think they nailed the desirable aspect quite well, from both an aesthetic and technical standpoint. Let’s check it out and see how its technology will impact “everyday” electric vehicles down the road.
The Specs
When Elon Musk founded Tesla Motors, he wanted to eliminate the “underpowered” stigma that was associated with early electric vehicles (EVs). The 248 hp Tesla Roadster, released in 2008, delivered 286 Nm of torque, had a range approaching 400 km (250 mi), went 0 to 100 kph (62 mph) in under four seconds, and had a top speed of 200 kph (125 mph). A decade later, the engineers at Pininfarina said, “Hold my Chianti,” and designed a luxury vehicle that leaves the Roadster in the dust.
The Battista has a whopping 1,900 hp and delivers 2,300 Nm of torque. That’s an electric car with twice as much power as a Formula 1 race car and the carbon emissions of a Chevy Volt. It goes 0 to 100 kph in less than two seconds and reaches a maximum speed near 350 kph (220 mph).
The Powertrain
Where do they put all those horses under the hood? Well, not under the hood at all—they’re in the wheels. Four maintenance-free synchronous permanent magnet hub motors allow torque vectoring (delivering different amounts of torque to each wheel independently for traction control). Each front motor provides 250 kW (335 hp), and the rear motors deliver 450 kW (603 hp) apiece. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 1,400 kW or 1.4 megawatts of power—enough to power over 1,000 U.S. homes. Liquid-cooled inverters control the motors.
Hub motors (or in-wheel motors) are popular in small electric transports like e-bikes and scooters, but other than a few exceptions, such as the soon-to-be-released Lordstown Endurance, they haven’t become mainstream in the electric car market. The main issue with hub motors is that they’re too close to the action, so to speak. The wheels are exposed to the elements, they’re subjected to the jolts caused by every bump and pothole, and they experience friction-related heat caused by the brakes. On the positive side, in-wheel motors eliminate quite a few parts, like the driveshaft, transmission, axle, differential, and other mechanical components, reducing the vehicle’s cost and weight while increasing its efficiency and leaving more space for passengers and cargo. Hub motors also make it easy to implement all-wheel drive and traction control.
Sustainability was one reason for going electric with this hypercar; the other was performance. Unlike an internal combustion engine (ICE), an electric drive can deliver nearly instantaneous torque. In fact, Pininfarina engineers say the car’s response is so rapid—20 times faster than an ICE—and so powerful that the torque is usually limited by software in order to give the driver time to think.
The Battista’s fuel tank is a Rimac 120 kWh battery pack featuring lithium-manganese-nickel cells. It provides 500 km (310 mi) of range and the onboard charging system supports DC fast charging. Let’s qualify that range, though. If the car uses its full power, the battery will be drained in about five minutes after covering a distance of 29 km (18 mi). To get the full range, you’d need to drive it like a Volt and, to paraphrase Admiral Grace Hopper, that’s not what hypercars are built for.
The car’s T-shaped battery pack is mounted low to improve vehicle handling, with most of the weight in the rear. Normally, this is a rear-wheel-drive vehicle, unless the driver switches to an all-wheel-drive mode, so it’s better to have additional weight over the drive wheels.
Electric vehicles are so quiet that they can be dangerous in neighborhoods where people are accustomed to listening for cars instead of looking both ways before crossing the street, so many places have minimum noise requirements for EVs. Pininfarina engineers are developing a library of artificial sounds that give the car a distinctive audio signature. Drivers can choose sounds for each driving mode.
With Great Power Comes Great Stopping Ability
If I were in a car traveling 200 mph, I’d want to be sure that the vehicle has good brakes. The Battista’s regenerative braking system can recover up to 80 percent of the vehicle’s kinetic energy while improving braking performance and stability. Engineers added a set of carbon-ceramic discs, 390 mm thick, with six-piston caliper brakes similar to those in Formula 1 models. The car also has a dynamic rear spoiler that can act as an air brake.
On the Outside
To decrease weight and improve safety, the car’s monocoque body is made of carbon fiber, as are its outer panels and battery pack. In this way, the battery module contributes to the car’s structure and stiffness. The side view mirrors are aerodynamically designed to funnel air into the rear vents that feed five cooling radiators. A retractable and adjustable rear spoiler provides three levels of downforce as well as air braking capabilities. An LED bar between the headlights serves as Battista’s daytime running lights. If the lights appear blue, it’s because the car is coming toward you really fast. (Just kidding—a little Doppler humor.)
The Battista Driving Experience
Drivers can select among multiple driving modes, including pura, energica, and furiosa. (You probably don’t need to speak Italian to translate those terms.) The dashboard includes three displays: performance (left), navigation/media (right), and speed (center). The Battista is designed to be tailored to each individual customer. Three base models serve as starting points: Grigio Luserna, Blu Iconica (my personal favorite), and Bianca Sestriere.
Sustainability
I mentioned earlier that Pininfarina wants to set the standard for desirability and sustainability. On the latter point, the company is taking sustainable design seriously through the use of ethically sourced materials, recycling and upcycling, and even in the way the interior leather is tanned. Unused scraps of leather are stored and eventually sewn into innovative patterns for use in future products. Scrap aluminum and other precious metals are melted down and reused. Even the lowly floor mats are made from recycled plastic using litter that’s been recovered from the ocean. CEO Per Svantesson said, “As guardians of the Pininfarina brand, we will never compromise on the design values that made this marquee famous in the past. Yet as pioneers of a new era in luxury, we will apply our expertise to ensure that sustainability is at the core of the automotive art forms of the future.”
How Will the Battista Impact the EV Market?
Battista production is limited to 150 cars, undoubtedly to drive up the price tag, which is reportedly around $2.5 million. So how does this lead to a practical, affordable EV that the rest of us can drive? Remember that the first Tesla was priced out of range for most people, but once the rich kids bought a bunch, it gave the company seed money and experience, which helped its engineers to develop an affordable model less than a decade later. Nobody needs a hypercar, but the technology advances that Pininfarina has made while developing the Battista will eventually make it to the mainstream EV market, and that’s good for everyone.