Pininfarina Battista Electric Super Car Is the Screaming-Fast Future

• After 90 years of designing other makers' cars, including 67 years of Ferraris, Pininfarina finally launches its own: the 1874-hp Battista hypercar.

• The Battista is a screamer, or it will make you scream, with a 0-60 time of under 2 seconds.

• Price is over $2 million and they're only making 150 of them.

Before you drive the Pininfarina Battista electric hypercar, do this: Remove that old, outdated brain currently stuffed into your cranium and replace it with an all-new “high-G brain” from wherever better brains are sold. Get one that can absorb and even enjoy 0-60 launches that take less than two seconds. (Less than two seconds!) Maybe John Force or Big Daddy Don Garlits wouldn’t freak out at that rate of acceleration, but I guarantee you and I will. Your old, previous brain doesn’t know what to do with that kind of a launch. It doesn’t boggle the mind—it bamboozles it. Take your new brain, which is now capable of ridiculously high g-forces both lateral and longitudinal, strap it into the driver’s seat of the Pininfarina Battista and stomp on that accelerator pedal.

That screaming you hear is not gear whine.

At first, maybe in the initial 60 feet of launch, your head says, “Yes, this is acceleration, I am familiar with this.” Then, after that phase, when the Battista continues to rocket down the road at rates unprecedented, your brain starts to panic. It demands that you lift your foot off the accelerator pedal because, “This ain’t acceleration, man—this is alien space propulsion from another world!”

It’s not from another world—it’s from Italy.

Now, before you start typing in the comments section that “… it’s not Italy, it’s really Serbia where this thing car comes from—it’s just a Rimac, man!” consider this: The Pininfarina Battista was designed concurrently with the Rimac Nevera. Right from the very beginning, they say. We asked what parts are Rimac and what parts are Pininfarina and we got this official reply:

“The Battista’s rolling chassis, comprising electric powertrain, T-shaped battery, carbon-fiber monocoque, and all electrical systems,” is what Pininfarina said Rimac provides. From there, Pininfarina assembles the rest of the Battista in its Cambiano, Italy, facility just outside of Turin. One Pininfarina employee said the car was "engineered hand-in-hand with Rimac and designed at a different level of beauty."

So sure, there are differences but if you’re going to share something isn’t it cool to share something this fast? Consider that the Pininfarina’s four AC permanent-magnet electric motors–one powering each wheel–make a combined total of 1874 hp and 1727 lb-ft of torque. Horsepower is now measured in the thousands, not the hundreds. In addition to zero to 60 officially taking less than two seconds, chief engineer Paolo Dellacha says zero to 186 mph takes less than 12 seconds. With a 217-mph top speed, active aerodynamics are necessary to help keep it on the ground.

This is truly a new world order.

In one of the more amazing days of my professional car life, they actually let me drive one of these things. Mine was green, which wouldn’t be my choice of color, but choosing colors, interior trim, and matching luggage is something each buyer will be able to do. You can even take a trip to Cambiano to do it, and that includes lunch with the affable head of design, Dave Amantea. He will help guide you to a look that is both tasteful and uniquely yours.

“Every Battista is bespoke,” Amentea said. “There will never be one Battista identical to another one.”

My drive of this green hypercar would be in the winding, twisting hills of the Santa Monica Mountains above Malibu. I would have chief engineer Dellacha with me the whole time. A car with this much thrust requires adult supervision.

Dellacha started by showing me around the interior. Three screens greet the driver; on the right is all the infotainment—music, radio, phone—and the climate controls. On the left is where you set everything from steering wheel position to seat adjustment, as well as mirrors and a few other adjustments. In the center is a small screen with your speed shown digitally.

Also on the left is a big round knob that lets you choose driving modes: Calma, Puro, Energica, and Furiosa. Carattere is kind of like Individual. In addition to setting parameters for the shocks, each mode sets how much of the car’s horsepower is available to you. In Calma you get 21% of total power—300 kW or 402 hp. Imagine 402 hp in the wimpiest mode! You could drive around in Calma all day and still thrill yourself. Pura mode gives you 53%—745 kW or just under 1000 hp; Energica 71%—1000 kW or 1341 hp; and Furiosa gives you the whole 1400-kW, 1874-hp enchilada.