eli5: Can horsepower be added to each other or is there overlap? Example: If Ferrari says that an electric motor on each front wheel can produce 100hp each, and the combustion engine produces 750hp. Is it actually 950hp exactly? Or is there overlap or less hp etc?

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In: 103

Answer 1

To add to the excellent answers in the other postings here, there is also a factor with traction-control. If a wheel is spinning out, it is not helping the car accelerate. If the driver engages traction-control, the car will accelerate faster, but it will limit the power going to the wheels to just below the point when they start to over-spin.

This is affected by road conditions and the softness of the compound of the tire rubber. Hard tires last longer, but soft tires have better grip, even though they wear out faster.