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?

Question

Thanks

In: 103

Answer 1

It depends

In the case of the Ferrari SF90 it seems the answer is yes. 3 electric motors providing 217 hp combine with a 769 hp combustion engine to make 986

It’s not always true for hybrids. If the electric motor and combustion engine are both tied into the same transmission you could end up limited by the transmission’s ratings.

A Honda Accord hybrid gets 146 hp from the gas engine, 181 from the electric motor, but combined to just 204 hp because the CVT can’t handle the torque