The world’s only electric Ferrari
JOBURG – First electric Ferrari is faster than original.
In 2016, Ferrari boss Sergio Marchionne found the idea of an electric Ferrari obscene.
However, Marchionne’s stance has since changed as CNN reported that the automaker will make a move towards electric cars by 2020 – a time that proved to be too long for motor-head, Eric Hutchison.
Hutchison told CNN’s Supercharged that he spent thousands of hours refurbishing and improving a vintage 1978 Ferrari 308 GTS that was totally destroyed after an engine fire, leaving the car and all of its components irreparable. $10 000 (R126 629, 50) later, Hutchison was the owner of Ferrari 308 shell which has now been restored and fitted with three batteries.
“When I brought the project home from the junkyard, I was completely horrified. It had been burned up in a fuel fire, gasoline leaked on the motor. It smelled, all the rubber was melted, there was broken glass. It was frankly a mess. I think I quit four times in the year and a half to two years that it took to get there,” said Hutchison.
The California-based vehicle is not only sustainable, but faster than the original Ferrari 308.
“I really was dying to know how this 308 compared to a stock 308. We had a professional driver drive both cars in a timed environment on the same track – about a mile and a half – and the professional driver did that lap in 1:26 with a gas Ferrari. The electric car absolutely decimated the gas car,” Hutchison said.
Having put the car up for auction, the GTS’s current owner, Drew Gill, was ecstatic to find out the sports car was electric.
“It’s fast, it’s way better than any other electric car that you’re going to drive on the market today, and it’s a Ferrari,” Gill said.
Check out the electric Ferrari 308 GTS in action.
