A little more than a year ago, Maserati revealed the Grecale, the automaker’s first compact SUV.
Aimed squarely at the ever-popular SUV market, the Grecale was launched with three variants. At that time, the Italian marque promised to release an all-electric version of the SUV “in a year’s time”, and thankfully they kept that promise.
At last week’s Auto Shanghai 2023, Maserati revealed its first electric SUV — the Grecale Folgore.
Fittingly, Folgore translates to “lightning” in Italian, and this EV is primed to cause a storm to shake up fellow EV competitors. The launch variant of the Grecale Folgore will come with dual motors and all-wheel drive, and while it’s not going to have the same combustion timbre as legacy Maserati engines, it’s rocking up with a ton of power – up to 550 bhp and 820 Nm of torque.
Highlights of the Grecale Folgore include a 12.3-inch upper touchscreen, fitted with Maserati’s newest infotainment system, working in tandem with an 8.8-inch lower touchscreen. This is where the HVAC controls are located. The latter also features hands-free gesture controls, similar to some high-end luxury models.
When driven to its full capacity, the Grecale Folgore is capable of a top speed of 220km/h. That is, unless the vehicle is set to Max Range mode, in order to save energy. In that case, top speed is limited to just under 130km/h, throttle response is muted, and the system limits the maximum output of the HVAC system.
Despite being relatively small, the Grecale Folgore is equipped with a massive 105kWh battery pack, providing it with approximately 500km on a full charge (WLTP).
Despite its large pack, the Folgore is equipped with a 400-volt electrical system, rather than a more robust 800-volt system found on EVs like the Porsche Taycan and Kia EV6.
That equates to a lower maximum charge rate than these EVs, but its 150 kW limit is still nothing to sneeze at. At full chat, the Folgore can charge from 20% to 80% capacity in about 29 minutes.
Maserati is planning to go all-electric by 2030 and will be producing EV versions of all of its models by 2025.
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