So Charging A 296, Let's Discuss

Performance mode charges the battery to approx 50% and keeps it there. If you have 100% when you set off it will use the battery and drain it to about 50%. Qualify mode charges the battery more rapidly, discharges more rapidly and provides maximum electrical power. However, qualify mode therefore puts additonal "strain" on the electrical system. Generally, like a phone, it is best to do a slow charge and not charge the device to 100%. Obviously in the real world I have no idea what this really means long term. Will qualify more reduce the life of the battery by 10%? 50%?... 1%?

 

Thanks! I'll try that.

 

After reading all of the above I conclude to only drive in quali and all should be fine?

 

Not sure now. Anyone else know about battery strain in Qualy vs Performance? I'm just not as comfortable when the battery gets low. I like to change to H or Edrive when going through neighborhoods.

 

Plugged mine in for about 16 hours yesterday after lunch to this morning because I hadn't driven it in 3-4 days. Get in this morning and it's still at one green bar and 0 miles range.

Maybe I didn't push the plug in far enough??

 

I always check the dash display has a rotating car on it and says "CHARGING" top left which appears to indicate it is plugged in properly.

 

Ive been thumbing though the manual and I can't find anything that actually states you shouldn't leave it in qualy mode which will keep you battery at about 100% all the time.

My comments are partly because I have heard or read somewhere that (on the 296) qualy mode is not ideal for long term battery life. However even if I'm completely mistaken, Li-Ion batteries don't "like" to be 100% charged and then left in that state... normally. They also don't "like" being charged rapidly to 100%. This certainly applies to, for example, the Taycan that sets the charge limit to 80% when you charge it normally. You have to "force" it to 100%. Fast chargers also are really quick to get to say 70% but then tail off to almost a trickle as they get above 90%. Iphones optimise charging these days so that they reach 100% when they expect you to wake up and take them off the charger. My iWatch charges to 80%.... etc..

I tend to drive in Performance unless I know I'm going to have my foot down at every opportunity. If I intended to drive somewhere at leave it for a few days I'd leave it in qualy to arrive at 100% charge.

 

Has anyone used an EV charger as a trickle charge for long term storage?

I would assume an EV charger (EU spec) does the same job as the supplied trickle charger but I found after leaving the car plugged in for a week on my EV charger that the electric range when I started the car back up was only 50% - was definitely full when I left the car.

Weird as my EV charger said it had put in about 30KW over the course of the week meaning it must've been topping up the LV battery. Just weird the HV battery wasn't fully charged, maybe it's a long term parking thing where it drops the HV to 50% to protect the battery.

 

In performance mode, the battery drains until it gets to 50% and then P mode will keep the battery at 50% (7 miles). If you need to use the battery in E mode, you can switch to Q to fast charge it back to 100%. I usually drive in P mode, and I generally leave it on the charger when in my garage, but it's usually about 50% when I plug it in. I drive it once or twice a week. Also - mine was a 2023 with issues. I since traded that for an F8 while I wait for my 25 296GTS to be finished (currently 10R). I am wary of the fact that Lithium batteries will eventually hold less and less charge over time, but I think that might be years - not weeks or months.

 

I have a 296 GTB in Virginia Beach, VA. I've had the car for about two months now and on the weekend of Dec 7th drove from Va Bch to DC for a holiday party. I decided I would try out all the functions and driving modes to gather information. The drive was about 200 miles one way. I filled the tank and had 100% of charge. Drove up and back in hybrid mode. I found the battery needed charging before reaching my destination as the charge was down to 1 bar. In hybrid mode the car would go back and fourth between pure electric and ICE modes. I only used about 1/3 of a tank to get to DC. I also found that about 10miles on qually mode would charge the battery to 100%. I did this as the car should have about 50% charge if it's going to sit for a few days. Otherwise I don't plug in but every few days to keep it charged up. I also found that when I parked the car the trip screen would tell me how many days of charge I have in the battery but that's temp dependent. I found driving in performance mode did not charge the battery but rather used power. I liked the fact that I used much less fuel in the hybrid mode than without.

 

In performance mode did the battery get below 50%?

 

What year is the296?

 

If your battery is not charging after a day on the charger, beware. You may find that it will brick and not move or go into neutral. Be sure that you can push the car from behind after using the tool to place the tranny in neutral. Learned from a friend.

 

2024

 

Researching that now

 

My understanding is that P mode allows it to go down to 50% (7 miles) and then keeps it there. Q mode charges immediately and constantly. I initially misunderstood that since the manual said P mode charges the battery, but it didn't seem like it was since it went down from full charge with very little indication that any charging was happening. So I would switch to Q mode and get it charged up. When I finally let it get down to 50% in P mode I noticed it did keep it there. Never got higher that 50% but it did maintain it there. I'm deathly afraid of running that battery down to zero since I've heard all kinds of bad things about that!

 

I don't believe that zero miles range in Emode means zero charge in the HV battery. You can drive in E and run the car down to zero miles, then the car will go to a different mode. It's smart enough look after itself.

I think "dead" batteries are caused by some problem with plug-in charging.

(Obviously I wouldn't drive in E down to zero miles if I was about to arrive somewhere and park up with no charging ability)

 

The 296 is designed to be driven in "performance" mode most of the time. Why? It gives the performance that Ferrari drivers expect. In particular the e-motor torque fill mitigates the poor throttle response that would normally result from using a highly boosted, relatively small capacity V6 turbo. The car does not fully charge the battery in performance mode in order to maximise life of the battery. The other driving modes should only be used if there is a specific reason to do so. For example, e-mode for not waking up people that are sleeping. I'd advise against using "qualifying" all the time every day unless to are prepared to accept faster battery aging. Cycling between 100% and 0% ages a battery faster than cycling between 60% and 10% twice as many times.

Earlier in this thread someone made a very good comment about the car being cold and gearbox a bit jerky after starting in e-mode. So he starts the car in performance until all the fluids are warm. Good practice. In fact the McLaren Artura starts in e-mode but quite quickly reverts to a hybrid mode with motor running until the engine fluids are up to temperature where it will revert to e-mode. There will be no harm in leaving the house on low throttle in e-mode for a few minutes. But once you are out on the road I would advice switching to performance mode or at least hybrid until fluids are warm.

There will be no harm done to the battery by draining charge down to 0% indicated during driving. Reason is 0% indicated is not 0% charge. The engineers designing the car only give drivers the ability to use the battery within a certain charge range. But the battery management software will only allow you to deplete it to minimum usable range to protect the battery. Ferrari in my country have had numerous problems with 296 owners leaving cars for a few days or weeks (not sure exactly how long) on 0% indicated charge. When they return to use their cars there are all sorts of electronics problems. Not sure exactly what problems as the dealers don't want to discuss it. However the dealers are clear that 1) when you park your car it is better to have been in performance mode so that there is charge on the battery and 2) if you leave the car any length of time use an approved charger. The hybrid battery trickle charges the 12V battery and with all the electronic monitoring electronics on the car it is never really asleep or off (much like our smart phones) so there is a constant low amp drain on the car.

Hybrid performance cars are complicated compared to traditional ICE cars no doubt. But if owners understand best practice of using the cars hopefully they can prove reliable and we can enjoy the incredible performance they provide. I just wish that there was transparency in the used market to understand battery condition of hybrid cars. After all I can well imagine an older well cared for hybrid car with better battery condition compared to a younger car owned by a driver that either does not understand the tech, or care about battery health. I imagine that dealers are able to access this information, but I that they will not want to share it with buyers.

 

Some very astute observations regarding these 296 Ferrari models, thank you!

 

I prefer to drive in Qualifying mode most of the time. The reason is the P mode adds a little too much e torque fill for me and backs off more as you press on the throttle where as Qualifying does more of what I want, which is add more e power the harder I press the throttle. And as noted, once you drive a few miles, P mode is now taking engine power to keep the battery around 50%. Whereas Qualifying mode behaves the same no matter how many miles you drive. I suspect on a long track when you can be on the throttle for extended periods, you would exhaust the battery. But that is very far away from the types of roads I am driving on. I think you can drive the car however you like, Im sure driving in hybrid mode is just fine for the car, thats probably why it starts up in hybrid mode by default. I prefer to use e mode to back out of the garage, and once on the street I fire the ICE this way the little bit of debris from the exhaust ends up on the street vs my garage floor or driveway. I usually leave the car in auto for the first mile or two that the ICE is running and then switch to manual.

 

Performance mode is an odd mode. It doesn't provide full power, it dumps 50% of the battery so you arrive at your destination with 50% charge which can be a problem if you leave the car. The only reason I think it exists is to increase battery life by not charging to 100% but then the second you stick the car back on charge you are at 100% again. Yes I'm aware that it may be better to hover around 50% whilst driving than 100% to improve longevity.

The manual seems to make no recommendations about one mode being a suggested mode except that it mentions - for full performance use the qualifying mode.... and this is a Ferrari after all.

I started off driving in Performance mode but always drive in qualfying now. Battery is under warranty and.... down the road the car will get an extended warranty to cover it's replacement (and it HAS to be replaced anyway).

As far as cold starts are concerned. The car (IMO) should always have the engine running before setting off and ideally wait for the cold engine light to go out.

 

Can you set it to charge up to 80% (instead of 100%) if you leave it plugged in for a long time, to save the battery (like done in other cars, such as Tesla, Mercedes etc)?

 

the most sensible thing I’ve heard on this subject for a while. There is a lot of folklore and mystery about the hybrid system and Ferrari and its dealer do little to alleviate it. Which is strange and is already hitting the values of these cars. I have asked Ferrari service to provide me with data on the health of the battery (like even an iPhone will) so let’s see what they come back with.

Since new I’ve driven over 3k miles with no issues - fast Road, track and City and only occasionally plug it in so typically the battery cycles over time between 80+ % to 10% and I I drive mainly in Performance and Hybrid mode. I will start it with the engine ON as far as possible (switch to Performance after hitting the start button once) and only occasionally use qualifying at the end of a journey to top up the battery. It’s rarely ever in eDrive.

The only issues I’ve had are when on a couple of occasions I stupidly let the 12V battery discharge (didn’t switch car off properly) but that was again rectified by directly attaching a charger to it and letting it recharge. Ferrari service guys said no issue with this. Once the car was running there was no further issue.

 

I think there is a mode called Long Term Parking which essentially does this. How you activate this or whether the car senses it and does it automatically is probably buried in the User Manual somewhere.

 

I go right to qualifying mode every time. Basically E mode to leave the neighborhood and qualify mode after that. I’ve never once been in performance mode.