The 450V permanent magnet Hy-Kers electric
motor is a development of that designed by the Scuderia engineering team for
Formula 1, where extreme packaging combined with generous funding had already
produced a compact and relatively lightweight unit. As can be expected, the big
V12 takes up a lot of space, so the team had little choice but to locate the
e-motor right on the back of the 7-speed DSG gearbox, which has been
co-developed with Getrag. As a point of reference, McLaren’s is on the side of
the engine, driving aft to the transmission, but a more notable difference is
that the Ferrari’s feeds direct into the hydraulically controlled limited-slip
differential via a development of the all-drive technology used to power the
front wheels. The motor spins fast – to around 16,000rpm – so there is a
substantial reduction gearbox, but the advantages according to Ferrari include
a decrease in power loss, although more interesting is that the torque to each
wheel can be individually varied via the hydraulics. Ferrari says the system is
predictive and can anticipate the driver’s needs.
LaFerrari’s
6.3-liter naturally aspirated V12 pumps out 810ps, with a further 165ps
produced by the electric motor
During E&H’svisit to Modena to learn
about and drive the hybrid hypercar, Ferrari engineers were guarded on the
subject of torque vectoring – which, in itself suggests it is under
development, or at the very least is being closely looked at – but the
LaFerrari’s electric motor’s more direct coupling also enables it to harvest
energy to charge the batteries during braking. The McLaren’s traction control
and stability is all electronic, featuring a completely open differential with
control of wheelspin via pulsing of the brake caliper, and the British supercar
maker says it wasn’t possible to maintain the feel of the brake pedal during
any energy harvesting phase. Ferrari is most insistent that its electric motor
is always working in one form or the other; either it delivers power to drive,
or it charges – as a form of traction control to limit the slip of an inside
wheel during cornering, or as an aid to braking via both rear wheels. It also
charges during part-throttle acceleration. If the thermal engine has any
surplus torque available that is not needed to drive the wheels, it is directed
to the motor/generator to charge the high-voltage batteries.
In
among this sophisticated hybrid hypercar setup, there is also a large
three-phase, high-voltage alternator whose output has to be rectified.
In among this sophisticated hybrid hypercar
setup, there is also a large three-phase, high-voltage alternator whose output
has to be rectified. This, and the rest of the power electronics, generate a
lot of heat and so there are no fewer than six separate cooling circuits,
covering the electronic controls; the engine’s oil and water; the clutch and
gearbox; the hybrid motor; and of course, the batteries and the occupants, the
latter of which sit on the floor of the carbonfiber chassis tub. One of vehicle
architecture chief Franco Cimatti’s first inspirations when he began laying out
the car in 2007 was to sit the occupants lower by getting rid of the seats and
all the associated adjustments and instead, make the pedals adjustable. The HV
batteries, which are the lifeblood of the HY-Kers and like almost every other
LaFerrari subsystem are made in-house at Maranello, couldn’t then go in the
obvious place, so they are sandwiched between the occupants and the front of
the engine. Formula 1 finance has since helped make them small enough to fit.
Ferrari admits that the packaging of all
systems and components has been a huge engineering task. The separate cooling
circuits have to be fed with air that has to be incorporated in the
aerodynamics that are extensive above and below the car, and is actively
managed via flaps on the underbody and a retractable rear spoiler operated by a
solenoid. If the task of packaging was huge, so was the electronics programming
that integrates the hybrid system with the differential, the electronically
controlled dampers, the active aerodynamics, the braking and just about
everything else that comes to mind.
The
high-voltage generator, power electronics and traction motor of LaFerrari’s
hybrid system are all integrated into the powertrain
All the systems have been thoroughly and
carefully automated, and relentlessly tested. Other than the rotary switch that
determines wet, road or race levels of performance, the driver has very few
options, because Ferrari maintains that it knows its customers – and the car is
the way Ferrari wants it to be. As Lanzavecchia concludes, “The electronics
should be driven by the feel for the driver. After driving the car for 1,000m,
we want you to feel as if you have been driving it for years.”
