Ferrari Joins the Ranks of EV Manufacturers As It Opens New E-Building

A new day dawns as Ferrari open their brand-new E-Building at Maranello that will produce ICE, Hybrid and the company’s first ever all EV offering.

Ferrari has made a bold step into the future of bland motoring and the launch of their first all EV model with the inauguration of the new E-building production line at its spiritual home in Maranello, Italy.

The building is a 42,500 square metre facility opened by the Italian President Sergio Mattarella and has been planned to ‘maximise production flexibility’ for the firm that produces some of the best loved cars in the world.

Apparently, the company will produce a mix of cars in the new E-building that will include both the ICE power that we all know and love all the way through hybrids and ending at an all-new EV to be launched next year. 

The company reports that the E in E-building doesn’t stand for Electric, or even Eclectic but rather ‘energy, evolution and environment’ at least that is what their official website says.

Environment may well be apt; the building is equipped with a mass of eco-friendly features. There are more than 3000 solar panels on the roof line and a huge tank to harvest rain water and of course a mass of newly planted trees. 

The firm claims that these measures will reduce the company’s carbon footprint by at least 3 kilo tonnes of CO2 emissions

Production will commence in January of next year with the Purosangue and SF90. The company allege that keeping the production and development of all power trains under one roof is in line with their strategy of prioritising revenue quality over quantity.

It is common knowledge that Ferrari are working on an all-new EV but the Company CEO, Benedetto Vigna was not revelling any details as of yet. According to a report from Reuters the vehicle is likely to be a four wheel drive two seater retailing at a price around USD535,000, which seems like a lot for a golf buggy.

The company has set up an e-lab at the local University in Bologna specifically to research into electric drive trains in a bid to be able to design and build everything in-house. 

This means high voltage batteries, e-axles, electric motors. It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to us if they get an EV prancing horse right, after all Ferrari have been playing with Kinetic Energy Recovery systems (KERS) since the 1990’s in their Formula 1 teams.

But can an EV ever be a true Italian Stallion? Vice Chairman and son of the late-great Enzo, Piero Ferrari, said ‘we had the same question ourselves, now I cannot say how but we have the answer to this. 

Perhaps they will let the owner program their favourite Ferrari sound to serenade them as they blast down the Autostrada, but I cannot help thinking that USD500,000 is a lot of money when you consider that some 50% of people that have purchased an EV regret the decision and want to go back to a ICE powered vehicle. And lets not forget that even the likes of Mercedes are rethinking their EV strategy.