The Electrification of Supercars! (Ferrari 296GTB) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00- All right, here's a brief, oversimplified story
2. 0:02but that I think is really interesting.
3. 0:03So, the past 100 years of cars that we've had cars,
4. 0:07all the best performing cars
5. 0:08for the drivers have been these huge, powerful, gas engines
6. 0:12with as light of a package as possible.
7. 0:14Those are the ones everyone's enjoying the most.
8. 0:16But then very quickly, kind of out of nowhere
9. 0:18in the past few years, we got these electric cars
10. 0:20that just started smoking everything.
11. 0:23At least in a straight line, right?
12. 0:24So we suddenly have these family sedans
13. 0:27with 1,000+ horsepower that are unbeatable in a drag race.
14. 0:31So performance car enthusiasts noticed that, of course,
15. 0:34but they weren't swayed.
16. 0:36They still love the feeling of an exhaust,
17. 0:38and in shifting gears, and the loud noises
18. 0:41that come with it,
19. 0:41even if it's the literal definition of inefficiency.
20. 0:44It's still fun, right?
21. 0:46Communicating with the car.
22. 0:48So, sports car makers had a choice to make.
23. 0:51They have a decision now.
24. 0:53How do we give people all of these benefits
25. 0:55of this incredible instant torque
26. 0:57in this electric drive train,
27. 0:59but also still give them the loud engine
28. 1:02and the big powerful shifting gears feeling
29. 1:05that they still love?
30. 1:06And so this, this here behind me,
31. 1:08this is the Ferrari 296 GTB,
32. 1:12an absolutely ridiculous car you might be saying,
33. 1:15and I agree, but I'm using it as an excuse
34. 1:18to talk about this new hybrid drivetrain thing happening
35. 1:22to sports cars and super cars
36. 1:24that we're gonna start seeing a lot more of.
37. 1:26And it's kind of the perfect example to talk about this.
38. 1:29So this is kind of the perfect example here, right?
39. 1:31This is a Ferrari and Ferraris have been V8s and V12s
40. 1:35in performance cars for years with incredible soundtracks
41. 1:38and massive engines and great performance.
42. 1:40But recently they've added two hybrids to their lineup,
43. 1:42the SF90 and the 296, which is this guy.
44. 1:46It's the first badged Ferrari car ever to have a V6 engine.
45. 1:51It's a smaller, three liter V6 in the back,
46. 1:54right behind the driver.
47. 1:55But, there's a lot more to it
48. 1:57because there's also now a hybrid drivetrain,
49. 2:00there's my shadow, (laughs)
50. 2:01with an electric motor between the rear wheels as well.
51. 2:04So you've probably heard of these a little bit.
52. 2:05It's been happening for a little.
53. 2:06McLaren's doing this with the Artura,
54. 2:08Acura does it with the NSX,
55. 2:11the Porsche 918 Spyder.
56. 2:13They've been testing it in a hybrid 911
57. 2:15and there's probably gonna be a bunch
58. 2:17of hybrid Lamborghinis coming up soon.
59. 2:19But, it's fun to see,
60. 2:20this is now the Ferrari way of doing it
61. 2:23and it's kind of incredible.
62. 2:25I mean, this car is obviously super good,
63. 2:27but I do find it fascinating
64. 2:28how they've combined these things.
65. 2:30So first of all, just walking around the car,
66. 2:31you can tell, I'll do my ultra-wide angle again,
67. 2:33it is a low car.
68. 2:35That is a very low car
69. 2:37and it's a low-mounted, small three liter V6
70. 2:39in the back there.
71. 2:40Just to get the whole car down this low, it's awesome.
72. 2:42But I'm a big fan of the back end of this car.
73. 2:45You've got the lights here,
74. 2:46you've got a little bit of active aero actually
75. 2:48that will sort of tuck up
76. 2:50and it's carbon fiber and it pops out the back
77. 2:52to help as an assist for your drag when you're braking.
78. 2:56You also see the exhaust center-mounted
79. 2:58and the huge rear diffuser is just massive
80. 3:01on the bottom of this car.
81. 3:02I love the rear of the 296.
82. 3:05Then you come around the sides
83. 3:06and you do have all the sort of classics
84. 3:07of a mid-engine supercar.
85. 3:09That's a vent giving you air into that rear engine.
86. 3:11This glass does come up
87. 3:13and you can see a lot more of the engine in there.
88. 3:15But here is a charge port.
89. 3:18And on the other side is a gas tank.
90. 3:20There's so many cool details.
91. 3:21This is the handle to get into the car,
92. 3:23which I'll show you the interior in a second,
93. 3:25but there's all this carbon fiber here.
94. 3:27These huge wheels, staggered 21-inch
95. 3:29and 20-inch massive carbon fiber brakes in here.
96. 3:32You can see, I mean, there's a ton of exposed, oh man,
97. 3:36these brakes are incredible on this car, too.
98. 3:38Then up on the front, even this active aero,
99. 3:40air coming in underneath the headlights to cool the brakes,
100. 3:43it's gonna blink cause I'm walking away,
101. 3:45but a little bit more active aero,
102. 3:46and slotting under the front of the car,
103. 3:49which is actually different from the SF90
104. 3:50because you get a real front trunk.
105. 3:52So, here's the key, and it's a little bit of a cube
106. 3:56and I kind of think it's cool
107. 3:57'cause there's a spot in the car to mount it.
108. 3:58But, double-tap the front here,
109. 4:01and one of the advantages of a mid-engine car
110. 4:04I guess you could say,
111. 4:06there is a actually really generously sized front trunk,
112. 4:10that's good for two duffle bags, not one.
113. 4:14Two duffle bags.
114. 4:14But let me not get carried away.
115. 4:15I could talk about the aesthetics all day.
116. 4:17This is a red Ferrari, after all.
117. 4:20But let me talk a little bit more about the drive train.
118. 4:22We gotta get inside.
119. 4:23So here it is, this is how you get
120. 4:25into the driver's seat.
121. 4:31And it's so low, that again,
122. 4:33you do the little dance to get over the sill.
123. 4:35You get in, you're in the cockpit.
124. 4:39(door closes)
125. 4:41296 and man, I might not be the the biggest fan
126. 4:45of Ferrari as a brand, and the stuff that they do,
127. 4:48but I have to admit, this is an incredible interior.
128. 4:51Aesthetics is really the only thing I don't love
129. 4:53about most of it.
130. 4:54But here you get in the car and to turn it on, well,
131. 4:57I'll get into the steering wheel actually in a second.
132. 4:59This is the thing that I don't like the most,
133. 5:00but this haptic button right here,
134. 5:03this touchscreen button is the ignition.
135. 5:05That's how you start this car.
136. 5:07You hit that once, it beeps at you a bunch of times.
137. 5:10(car beeping)
138. 5:11One, two,
139. 5:13three, four,
140. 5:16five, six.
141. 5:18Every time you get in the car, that's annoying.
142. 5:21There's a spot to put the key right here,
143. 5:23which is super cool.
144. 5:24But just this whole stack here in the middle is cool.
145. 5:25This is your windows, opening and closing.
146. 5:27They don't have to be particularly good at noise dampening
147. 5:30'cause I want to hear stuff when I'm in this car.
148. 5:32There's your gears,
149. 5:33at least for your automatic versus manual,
150. 5:35your reverse gear.
151. 5:36Also, huge carbon fiber paddle shifters,
152. 5:39but you also have one single cup holder here,
153. 5:41your hazards button, and a wireless charger
154. 5:43for your phone that actually does fit
155. 5:44and charge a pretty large phone.
156. 5:47That being the Pixel 7 Pro.
157. 5:49Pretty sweet there.
158. 5:50Not super visible as far as navigation,
159. 5:53but I'll give it a pass, it's a super car.
160. 5:55And then this just feels like a cockpit.
161. 5:57Everything is pretty minimal
162. 5:59and this is where it starts to fall apart
163. 6:00because I'm not a fan of haptic buttons here,
164. 6:05haptic buttons over here,
165. 6:07and then tons of haptic buttons
166. 6:10to navigate through the menus and the UI.
167. 6:12Baffling choice to me.
168. 6:14I think there they just wanted
169. 6:15to make it feel sort of like a race car
170. 6:17and they did a lot of stuff here.
171. 6:18Obviously, you still have the switches
172. 6:20and there are still hard switches here
173. 6:22for some stuff, but like, (sighs) the blinkers,
174. 6:25on the steering wheel fine, real buttons.
175. 6:28These aren't real.
176. 6:30And then when you switch your drive modes,
177. 6:32even these are touchscreen buttons.
178. 6:34I just think in general, cars should have physical switches
179. 6:38for things that you're going to do more than a few times
180. 6:41while driving, especially climate controls.
181. 6:44So I think that was a bit of a miss.
182. 6:45They do that in the SF92.
183. 6:47But it still does feel like a cockpit
184. 6:49and I'm a fan of the overall feel
185. 6:51of the things that point towards me.
186. 6:53Materials, leather, carbon fiber.
187. 6:56There's really adjustable seats.
188. 6:57These are actually,
189. 6:58they aren't the carbon fiber bucket seats or anything
190. 7:00but they are power adjustable, which is cool.
191. 7:02Having the stuff in the middle by the driver,
192. 7:04it feels like a cockpit in here.
193. 7:05But I'm gonna hit this start button one more time
194. 7:07because it's gonna fire up the car itself.
195. 7:08I'm gonna go into race mode so it turns the engine on itself
196. 7:11and you can hear that little baby V6.
197. 7:14(engine starting)
198. 7:18That's not bad.
199. 7:20It sounds a lot better than a lot of other V6s I've heard.
200. 7:24(engine revving)
201. 7:29So it does sound incredible.
202. 7:30But what does that electric motor do, right?
203. 7:32So I hit this button right here.
204. 7:34You can see the other modes
205. 7:35and I'm gonna go eDrive.
206. 7:37The engine turns off, we're in fully automatic single gear
207. 7:42of just electric motor driving, and now, it's silent.
208. 7:46You can go up to about 15 miles on a charge
209. 7:50in the electric only mode and up to about 80 miles an hour.
210. 7:53It doesn't sound like much.
211. 7:54It's honestly a pretty small amount.
212. 7:56It's only a 7.45 kilowatt hour battery right behind me.
213. 8:01But, imagine this.
214. 8:03You're the neighbor with the red Ferrari, right?
215. 8:05Kind of obnoxious, but at least so you don't make them mad
216. 8:08when you wake up in the morning,
217. 8:09when you pull out of your garage,
218. 8:11you go into eDrive mode and you don't wake anybody
219. 8:14up at this crazy hour with your loud car.
220. 8:16You drive away perfectly silently.
221. 8:18You drive through the residential streets.
222. 8:20It's a quiet car, it doesn't drive too much attention
223. 8:22'cause it's not loud, and exhaust,
224. 8:24and fumes, and pops and burbles.
225. 8:26And then you get to the highway,
226. 8:28then you start your commute, then you hit that button,
227. 8:31(engine starts)
228. 8:32then you do your thing.
229. 8:33That I think is the real point,
230. 8:35at least a little bit more advantageous to me
231. 8:38than the other performance gains
232. 8:40of the electric motors in this car,
233. 8:42which is to fill in the gaps in torque.
234. 8:45When you're shifting gears
235. 8:46really when you start to accelerate,
236. 8:47the initial shove comes from the electric motor
237. 8:51and then the engine builds power
238. 8:53and the turbos of course spool up, you get all your boost,
239. 8:55but it's feeling a little bit more responsive,
240. 8:58like the instant torque that comes from an electric engine,
241. 9:00electric motor.
242. 9:01So, there are several ways to charge this small,
243. 9:04electric battery.
244. 9:06One of 'em is you can see the switches
245. 9:07in the door right here is gonna be the gas tank
246. 9:10or the electric.
247. 9:11I'm gonna pop that open
248. 9:12and do the getting out the car dance.
249. 9:15And you can see this popped open.
250. 9:16And this is just a trickle charger
251. 9:18for slowly filling up this car.
252. 9:20It's not a normal charger that you'd see in,
253. 9:23you know, other electric cars.
254. 9:24It's just for trickle charging.
255. 9:26And of course if you plug it into a one 10 volt outlet,
256. 9:28it'll charge relatively quickly.
257. 9:30The other way to charge it is just by driving the car.
258. 9:33The engine will feed energy into the,
259. 9:37into the electric battery when you're braking,
260. 9:39when you're driving.
261. 9:40If you wanna fill it up the fastest,
262. 9:41you put it in qualifying mode,
263. 9:43and that's when it's going to give you as much region
264. 9:46as possible to add boost when you're driving
265. 9:48in a high performance way.
266. 9:51But that's, that's what's happening in this drive train
267. 9:53and that's what the Ferrari 296 is made of.
268. 9:56Every car company is gonna have to figure out their own way
269. 9:58of doing this when they add their electrification
270. 10:02of their high end cars.
271. 10:03I love the Acura NSX.
272. 10:05Their Type S, when we had it here,
273. 10:07it was right before the Auto Focus Channel started,
274. 10:09but that might be the most planted, best feeling drive.
275. 10:12It's not as fast, but the best feeling drive
276. 10:15of a hybrid supercar I've ever felt.
277. 10:17It was all-wheel drive.
278. 10:18This one is throwing down a combined, nearly,
279. 10:22nearly 900-horsepower just to the rear wheels.
280. 10:24So it's about 650 horsepower just from the engine
281. 10:28and then another 150 horsepower or so,
282. 10:30just from the electric motor.
283. 10:32But it's a rear wheel drive.
284. 10:33So electric cars, I keep talking about them on this channel
285. 10:35and how they're certain things that they're really good at.
286. 10:38And I think, well, we've noticed the electric muscle cars,
287. 10:42which are just big and heavy,
288. 10:43and batteries are heavy and that's fine.
289. 10:45But these muscle cars that are just incredible
290. 10:47in a straight line, that's been great for electric.
291. 10:50But it's a little bit more of a delicate dance
292. 10:51with these sports cars
293. 10:53that are typically super lightweight
294. 10:55that can dance all over a track
295. 10:56and that's what they're made for.
296. 10:58So, as far as a road car goes,
297. 10:59I think this is a win, but that's what they're playing with.
298. 11:02Every hybridized version of these previously all-gas cars
299. 11:07that were known for being lightweight
300. 11:08will all be heavier than the gas version.
301. 11:11But it all has to come with perspective, right?
302. 11:13This is why I keep looking at cars
303. 11:14like the Tesla Model S Plaid,
304. 11:16which is incredible in a straight line,
305. 11:20and it can get carbon ceramic brakes
306. 11:22and it can get taken on a track,
307. 11:23but I just don't see that as a track car.
308. 11:27It's a four door sedan
309. 11:28that happens to be incredibly powerful.
310. 11:31But this and the way they've balanced the additional weight
311. 11:33and they've put it in a spot that makes a lot of sense
312. 11:36and weighted things properly.
313. 11:37The steering is incredibly responsive.
314. 11:40The brakes are still more than enough for stopping this car.
315. 11:42Like, this is a well done hybrid
316. 11:45and I'm a really big fan of it, to be honest.
317. 11:47So, you know, it started with the holy trinity,
318. 11:49which was the LaFerrari, the Porsche 918 Spyder,
319. 11:52and the McLaren P1.
320. 11:54Loving these hybrid systems in million dollar cars is great,
321. 11:57but now we're actually gonna start to see them
322. 11:59in regular every day, not every day,
323. 12:01I mean this is a, (laughs)
324. 12:03this is a $444,000 spec behind me.
325. 12:06But, in more of the the high end performance car territory,
326. 12:10we're gonna start seeing the electrification of them,
327. 12:13not just becoming pure EVs
328. 12:15but becoming electrified just like this.
329. 12:17And I think that's cool.
330. 12:18I would say that the electric drive,
331. 12:22leaving your house and not disturbing your neighbors
332. 12:24in residential areas part of the electric
333. 12:27is actually just as important as the performance benefits
334. 12:31that come from the electric motors
335. 12:33filling in the torque gaps
336. 12:34and waiting for the turbos to spool.
337. 12:36But that's just me.
338. 12:38Also, this was an incredibly fun review.
339. 12:40I got to drive this car for a few days
340. 12:41and I don't wanna give it back, but I'll give it back.
341. 12:43Okay, thanks for watching.
342. 12:45See you guys in the next one.
343. 12:46Peace.