Unveiled last October, the new electric Maserati Granturismo Folgore has a rather disappointing range. And yet, we could have expected better given its more than salty price.
If Tesla seemed alone on the electric car market a few years earlier, today all manufacturers are getting started. This is the case for generalist brands, such as Peugeot and Renault, but also for the more upmarket ones, such as Porsche, Audi or more recently Maserati. Because the Italian firm, rather known for its V8 has also decided to go electric. She didn’t have much choice anyway, while the sale of thermal cars will be banned in Europe from 2035.
A disappointing technical sheet
It is therefore in this context that Maserati unveiled last October the very new generation of its Granturismo coupé, replacing a first version produced from 2007 to 2019. On the program, a new look of course, but above all a new engine. Thus, this newcomer becomes the brand’s first 100% electric model.
And the least we can say is that its performance seems rather interesting, as shown in a video made last September during Monterrey Car Week in California. It must be said that its 761 horsepower (and not 1,200 as advertised due to insufficient battery power) are not too many to allow the coupe to achieve the 0 to 100 km/h in 2.7 seconds, for a top speed of 320 km/h. To the point of approaching the 2.1 seconds of the Tesla Model S Plaid.
Very promising figures, therefore for the Italian coupé. But as you can imagine, it will be rare to exploit all this power on a daily basis and on the open road. Because if this car is a real sports car, it is rather a GT intended for long journeys, like the Model S precisely. But it is still necessary that autonomy follow. However, and as the announcement specifies Top Gear in its test of a pre-series model, its gross 93 kWh battery (83 useful kWh) then allows it to travel only 450 kilometers on a single charge on the WLTP mixed cycle.
A data more than disappointing given its price, which should be around 230,000 euros. Which makes it the electric model with one of the worst price / autonomy ratios on the market. For comparison, the Audi e-tron GT costs significantly less, with a base price displayed at 104,340 euros and can travel up to 488 kilometers according to the WLTP cycle. Same thing for the Porsche Taycan GTS which starts at 137,847 euros and which has a range of 504 kilometers. This is without counting on the Tesla Model S Plaid with its 1020 horsepower and its autonomy of 600 km.
If the autonomy may seem disappointing, let’s not forget that 400 km of autonomy on an electric car still allows you to cross France – even Europe -, in particular thanks to fast charging. And in this regard, the Maserati is rather well supplied.
A powerful charge, but…
A high price therefore for our Maserati, in order to get closer to Ferrari’s pricing policy. But another small flat tarnishes the picture for the sportswoman who is equipped with an 800 volt system. And this concerns recharging, whose power theoretically reaches 270 kW. A value identical to the Porsche Taycan as well as the Audi e-tron GT. Except that here, to take advantage of optimal power and thus be able to recover 100 kilometers in just five minutes, it will then be necessary to connect to an 800 volt terminalsuch as those offered by Ionity.
Because on a 400 volt terminal, the power will be limited to 50 kW. Suffice to say that it is not much, but it is not surprising, because this concern concerns to a greater or lesser extent all electric cars equipped with an 800-volt architecture, such as the Kia EV6 and other Hyundai Ioniq 5 However, these show less loss, using their electric motor and an inverter. At Porsche, we go from 270 to 150 kW from an 800 volt terminal to another of 400 volts.
Anyway, it is not excluded thata more efficient version offering greater autonomy be launched later, while the first copies of this Granturismo Folgore should begin their delivery in the second quarter of 2023. A larger battery would then finally allow the Italian coupe to reach the 1,200 horsepower promised by the brand.
It also plans to launch no less than five electric models by 2025. Among them, the Grecale and the MC20 Folgore. New versions of the Quattroporte and Levante should also expand the range.
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