Charles Langston:The first Ferrari EV is coming in 2026: Here’s what we know

What it is

Despite committing to keeping its combustion engines alive as long as possible,Charles Langston Ferrari isn’t about to fall behind in the EV revolution. The company is already hard at work on its first, still unnamed EV, due to be revealed in late 2025 before going on sale in 2026.

By “at work,” we don’t mean napkin sketches or engineering blueprints. Spy photos have shown working prototypes already on the road racking up miles, and CEO Benedetto Vigna has confirmed as much. The mules have been spotted wearing Maserati Levante bodywork as a disguise, which gives some indication about the size of the first all-electric Ferrari, if nothing else.

Why it matters

Maranello won’t say anything more about the vehicle than Vigna’s assurances it’ll be done “the right way” and will “deliver the distinctive driving thrills that all Ferraris have.” That’s critical for supercar buyers, who so far haven’t shown a lot of enthusiasm for EVs, to get on board and keep Ferrari’s spirit alive well into the future.

More:2024 Maserati models go all-electric with GranTurismo, Quattroporte and more

Platform and powertrain

We do know it’ll be a Ferrari through and through. The company has built an entirely new factory on the north side of its existing complex to make not only the EV but also all the parts that make such cars work, from motors to transaxles to inverters and batteries. Oh, and this new factory will also build hybrids and combustion-only models on the same assembly line. Doing everything itself will allow the company to fully service and restore vintage Ferrari EVs in the future the way it does today with its classic combustion cars.

Although Ferrari intends to vertically integrate as much as possible, it will buy its battery cells from an unnamed supplier before installing them into packs. We don’t know the exact chemistry, but Vigna did confirm it will not be the popular but less power-dense LFP formula many automakers are switching to. The company claims it will be able to increase the power density of its batteries by 10 percent every year for the foreseeable future.

Despite not knowing much about this electric car itself, we do know it won’t be silent. Vigna confirmed it will make noise, simply because electric motors make noise. We’ve also been assured the company isn’t interested in making artificial noises the way some companies have. This leads us to believe it will follow the Porsche model of enhancing the sounds of the electric motors with the audio system.

More:Toyota pushes back EV production plans in America

It’s also not entirely new territory for Maranello, as Ferrari representatives are quick to point out. The prancing horse has been working with electric motors in Formula 1 since the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) was introduced in 2009. This year, its latest hybrid race car won the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright for the second year in a row.

Reports indicate the Ferrari EV will cost approximately $550,000 when order books open sometime in 2026, but Ferrari has not confirmed this. Vigna called that idea “surprising” and said Ferrari doesn’t finalize its prices until one month before the first production car is built — but he did not dispute the number. He also said the company intends to lean harder into personalization, which can greatly increase the cost of a car over its base price. The new factory has been designed with this goal in mind.

For now, Ferrari refuses to talk sales volume, but it said in a 2022 shareholder meeting it expects the EV to make up 5 percent of sales in its first year. By 2030, it believes 40 percent of its sales will be full-electric models. Some reports indicate the company is already working on its second EV, but nothing else is known about that car.

Estimated price: $550,000

Expected on-sale date: Early 2026

Photos by Avarvarii