Ferrari plotting sub-2sec hyper-EV

As the Ferrari fairy dust settles after this week’s launch of the spectacular new SF90 Stradale super-hybrid -- the fastest car the Italian brand has ever built -- it seems the company is already aiming at an even loftier goal.

How does a plug-in hypercar that can hit 100km/h in less than two seconds sound? A road-going Ferrari that can beat a Formula 1 car to the national highway speed limit?

In the lead up to the SF90’s much-hyped unveiling, there was much speculation over whether it would be a V6, a V8 or even a V12 hybrid, but the one number that kept being whispered by Ferrari insiders was “1.8”.

Which is why, during its spectacular, Cirque du Soleil-style unveiling at Fiorano, there was audible disappointment when we learned that the SF90 would ‘only’ reach 100km/h in 2.5 seconds (which still matches such speed beasts as the Bugatti Veyron).

It’s interesting to note that Elon Musk has already touted his new Tesla Roadster as being capable of a 1.9-second sprint to the tonne, and you should have no doubt that even the suggestion that it might do so would have Ferrari frantically trying to beat that time.

In the past, supercar engineers from Lamborghini have declared that, with road tyres, 2.5 seconds is as low as we can realistically go, suggesting that we should now focus on 0-200km/h times as being a better measure of performance.

On that scale, the SF90’s 6.7-second time already smashes every other car on the planet, even besting McLaren’s hyper-hybrid P1.

So when excitable Ferrari folk were telling us that their car would definitely do 1.8 seconds in the days before the SF90 arrived, we had to ask, how?

“An electric motor inside each wheel,” came the answer.

Combining Ferrari’s awesome new turbocharged V8 with this Tesla-like tech may just get them there, in theory, although you’d also assume new tyre technology would have to be involved.

And yet the SF90 does not have a motor inside each wheel -- it has two on the front axle and another between the engine and its new, eight-speed gearbox.

Does this suggest, then, that there is an even faster car in the works? A limited-run, La Ferrari replacement -- and surely there should be one, now that that vehicle has been bested by the “range supercar” that is the SF90 Stradale?

Is it possible that this next, F1-outpacing Ferrari could combine a motor in each wheel with a V12 instead, to create something truly groundbreaking?

Speaking at the launch, Ferrari’s chief technology officer, Michael Leiters, was asked why the company didn’t combine hybrid tech with a V12 this time around.

"The logical way to use the hybrid is to use it with a V8 turbo -- this is the smarter way to do a hybrid,” he said.

“Also, it’s a range car [not a limited-run hypercar], and having in mind emission reductions, the smarter way is to use a V8.”

Note that he pointed out the SF90 is a “range car”, so the V8 made sense in this case. When the company unveils its next hypercar, doing things the “logical” or “smart” way, and worrying about emissions, may not be an issue.

So were those Ferrari insiders speaking out of turn, perhaps hinting at what’s to come down the line, rather than this time around? Did they speak too soon? When we put this question to our source, we were greeted with stony, perhaps slightly shame-faced silence.

As a result, we’re willing to bet the 1.8-second Ferrari is real, and it’s coming. We just need to wait and let the SF90 have its moment in the sun for a little while first.