Pininfarina Battista: electric super sports car with 1,900 hp in the test

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The hypercar rightly bears the name of company founder Battista Farina

Pininfarina Battista: electric super sports car with 1,900 hp in the test-pininfarina

The numbers are almost unbelievable: 1,400 kW, a 100 km / h sprint in 2.0 seconds and 300 km / h after 11 seconds. Eleven seconds is roughly half the time the famous McLaren F1 takes needed to reach 300 km / h.

Not only does the performance sound like a shameless exaggeration, but also the price of the Pininfarina Battista of around 2 million euros – and that's just the base price.

The Battista also looks almost too beautiful to be brutal. Breathtaking styling was a must for the first completely redeveloped production car from the renowned design house, whose characteristic "P" logo has graced countless Italian bodies, from Lancias, Fiats and Maseratis to no fewer than 64 Ferraris.

  Pininfarina Battista
Drive: 4 permanent magnet synchronous motors
Power / torque: 1,417 kW (1,900 PS) / 2,300 Nm
0-100 km / h: 2.0 sec.
Top speed: 350 km / h
Base price: around 2 million euros

Electrifying electrification

The Battista shares the powertrain and carbon fiber monocoque with the Rimac Nevera, whose comparatively angular design looks rather roughly carved. The curves and the only hinted contours of the Battista, on the other hand, appear sensual and threatening at the same time.

Somehow the Battista seems to be less than the sum of its electrified parts. That can only be a sleight of hand, on paper the car promises a lot, but whether it can keep these promises while driving is another question. Spoiler alert: We have no problem admitting we were wrong.

Paolo Dellacha, the head of the product and construction department at Pininfarina, confirms that the Italian test candidate has a very special touch. "The way the vehicle drives is very, very, very different from the Nevera," emphasizes Dellacha.

The lack of a drift mode is just an indication that the Battista is focused on polished handling and good balance. Underneath the beautiful pieces is a T-shaped 120 kilowatt hour battery pack that conducts electricity to four electric motors. The quartet brings together 2,300 Newton meters on the road. Controlling this power on the test vehicle was the task of the optional Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R – the same tires that the Porsche 911 GT2 RS is on.

Picture gallery: Pininfarina Battista (test)

Pininfarina Battista: electric super sports car with 1,900 hp in the test-sports

Standard equipment consists of 20-inch wheels and a choice of tires (including winter tires), but our test vehicle has 20-inch wheels in the front and 21-inch wheels in the rear. Six-piston brake calipers from Brembo press on two-part carbon-ceramic discs. But the drive train also uses recuperation energy when braking, which helps to lower the temperature of the brakes by increasing the regenerative braking if necessary. The double wishbone suspension is equipped with adaptive dampers from KW, and there is also torque vectoring for more agility and better control in bends.

After opening the double doors, a luxurious interior awaits you with authentic materials, from machined and anodized aluminum buttons to buttery soft leather. At the front there is a small speedometer display the size of a smartphone, flanked by two tablet-like touchscreens.

The materials in the interior have a certain eco-touch: Pininfarina used olive leaves to tan the animal skins and used recycled fishing nets for the floor mats. But the highlight are the switches, especially the rotary knob, with which one of five driving modes can be selected – by turning the cool metal firmly.

"The amusingly named Modus Furiosa offers a setup for the racetrack and promises a 2 Fast 2 Furious experience."

Calma offers maximum recuperation and a sluggish throttle response for driving in the city. Pura eliminates the dullness without increasing power and Energica brings a bit more emotion, while the funnily named Modus Furiosa offers a track-focused setup for a "2 Fast 2 Furious" experience.

If you try the modes in this order, the result is an escalating background noise that comes from two outside and ten inside speakers. The fifth mode called Caratter (Italian for "character") enables individual settings for the accelerator pedal, power delivery, traction and ESP.

Strangely enough, Pininfarina has tied the recuperation levels to the driving modes, which means that they cannot be set separately. For those who are interested: The car should have a range of 450 to 500 kilometers and can be charged with 180 kilowatts of direct current, whereby the battery can be brought from 20 to 80 percent in less than 25 minutes.

Pursuit race with a Model 3

Since the authorities stipulate that pre-production vehicles must follow a lead vehicle, Pininfarina chief engineer Georgios Syropoulos accompanied us in a Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor on our tour of the Californian city of Palm Desert. The Model 3 is a suitable model because Syropoulos developed it. Like several other Tesla models, not to mention the Lotus GT4 racing cars for which he has acted as technical advisor.

The Battista cuts a fine figure on public roads; Some of them turn around and the camera phones click right and left. It feels downright tame when you accelerate moderately in the softer modes, offers linear power delivery and intuitive throttle response. The steering feels moderately communicative, and you have no idea that a sea of ​​power is hidden behind the calm facade, unless you switch to a more aggressive mode.

"The Battista cuts a fine figure on public roads; some people turn around and the camera phones click right and left."

If you switch to Furiosa, the torque flows gently and strongly – so strong that you quickly run out of road if you follow a fast Model 3, which is driven by the man who is responsible for handling the Battista. The chase turns into a sisyphean game of cat and mouse, as the Battista hardly seems to exert itself while the Tesla snakes its way through the curves at warp speed, trying desperately to stay on the road.

To be on the safe side, the torque vectoring system in our pre-series test vehicle was always in Energica mode, regardless of the driving mode selected. Even so, the Battista still drove very sharply into the corners, with the Cup 2 R ensuring solid steering behavior, a little understeer and a smooth transition from the middle of the corner to the corner exit.

Let's go, up on the racetrack!

Since Pininfarina only had one test car for four journalists, we limited ourselves to a jaunt down Highway 74 before giving the Battista a quick charge and taking it to the Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, which is about an hour from where we started. The 4.3 kilometer long race track in the desert offers few visual landmarks, which makes it difficult to remember the route.

Unhindered by lame everyday cars and in Furiosa mode, the Battista responds to a step on the accelerator with a tremendous thrust that generates longitudinal acceleration of up to 2.2 g. As far as lateral acceleration is concerned, Pininfarina measured up to 1.8 g briefly and 1.4 g continuously on the test track in Nardo. We may have experienced slightly lower cornering forces because the torque vectoring system was not in the most aggressive setting during our test.

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Unleashing nearly 2,000 horsepower in a straight line is literally a breathtaking feeling. The Battista's four engines spin with a combination of anger and gentleness. The feeling is even more amazing than the numbers suggest. Put your foot on the accelerator and look all the way ahead, and you'll be where you were looking. And unlike a car with a combustion engine, the reaction to the gas surge is really instantaneous.

The Pininfarina does not need to force outside air into the combustion chambers (and / or get turbos up to speed). The electrons turn into kinetic energy right away, and before you have time to understand the whole crazy transformation. The carbon-ceramic brakes work well enough to make you feel like you stepped into the irons too soon before the corner. But that could also have something to do with the fear of going in too fast with all the performance.

"Pininfarina's debut is an impressive debut for a brand previously known for embellishing the creations of other automakers."

We could only do three laps with the Battista before handing it over to the next journalist. (Here economy was called for, because of the high outside temperatures and the considerable battery consumption on the racetrack.) But in this short time the car delivered outstanding performance and handling that mocked its curb weight of two tons, even with the torque vectoring system did not work completely.

There are still a few months left for fine-tuning until the Battista is delivered to the first customer at the end of 2021. But Pininfarina's debut is an impressive debut for a brand previously known for embellishing the creations of other automakers. Working with Rimac on the powertrain was perhaps the smartest move the designer house could make. Because Rimac offered a platform that could be modified without major investments.

Wondering who will spend a seven-figure sum on an electric hypercar? Think of the older gentleman who tested a Battista during Monterey Car Week and worried that the car might not be comfortable enough. "No other car offers more comfort and smoothness than my Chiron," he is said to have said after the test drive. "Now I finally have an upgrade."

Picture gallery: Pininfarina Battista (test)

Pininfarina Battista: electric super sports car with 1,900 hp in the test-battista

2022 Pininfarina Battista

engine Four Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors

power 1,900 horsepower / 1,741 pound feet

Gear type Twin single-speed automatics

drive All-wheel drive

Acceleration 0-60 mph 1.8 seconds

Top speed 218 MPH

Electric range 310 miles

Empty weight 4,400 pounds

Number of seats 2

Base price $ 2 million

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