Hispano Suiza Tames the 820 kW Carmen Sagrera with More Than 100 Sensors
Hispano Suiza has detailed how the Carmen Sagrera’s HSDD vehicle-dynamics control system works. The software coordinates traction, stability, regenerative braking and torque distribution to keep the 820 kW, rear-wheel-drive electric hypercar under control without unnecessarily restricting the driver.
The Hispano Suiza Carmen Sagrera is an all-electric luxury hypercar and the third model in the Spanish marque’s Carmen family. Its four-motor, rear-wheel-drive powertrain produces 820 kW and 1,160 Nm, accelerating the car from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.6 seconds. A carbon-fibre monocoque is combined with a sophisticated suite of vehicle-dynamics electronics.
HSDD Integrates the Car’s Dynamic Systems
Hispano Suiza Driver Dynamics, or HSDD, is not a single driver aid but a proprietary software suite that coordinates several aspects of the car’s dynamic behaviour. It manages traction and stability control, torque and power distribution, regenerative braking, drive modes, and thermal management for the battery and electric motors.
HSDD incorporates the Grip Enhancement System for traction control and Active Yaw Modulation for stability management. Its Electronic Torque Stabiliser can apply negative torque independently to the rear wheels, helping to settle the car while recovering some of its kinetic energy and returning it to the battery.
The Carmen Sagrera uses four 205 kW axial-flux permanent-magnet motors. Two motors are connected in series for each rear wheel. This arrangement allows the electronics to vary torque from side to side and effectively create a virtual self-locking differential without the usual constraints of a mechanical unit.
More Than 100 Sensors Monitor the Car
HSDD draws data from more than 100 sensors distributed throughout the car. The software monitors steering angle and steering rate, accelerator-pedal position, wheel speeds, brake pressure, damper travel, vehicle yaw and acceleration across all three axes. It also takes account of battery state of charge, current and voltage, the selected drive mode, ambient temperature and pressure, and altitude above sea level.
Analogue and digital signals, together with data carried over the CAN network, allow HSDD to adjust power delivery, traction control, stability management and regenerative braking in real time. Hispano Suiza says the system can process more than 200 million instructions per second. The figure illustrates the scale of the computing task, but without further details on the hardware, latency and algorithms, it does not provide a meaningful basis for direct comparison with rival systems.
Former Formula 1 driver Luis Pérez-Sala led the calibration programme through simulation and extensive testing on circuits and public roads. The engineers tuned the electronics to intervene progressively, leaving the driver a broad margin of freedom before the stability systems step in more assertively. Whether HSDD genuinely remains unobtrusive at the limit will ultimately require independent road and track testing.
Larger Battery Adds Weight
The Carmen Sagrera produces 820 kW and, according to Hispano Suiza’s latest published material, 1,160 Nm. It accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.6 seconds, although the manufacturer notes that the precise result depends on the final-drive ratio. All four motors drive the rear wheels.
Peak power is unchanged from the earlier Carmen Boulogne, but battery capacity has increased from 80 kWh to 103 kWh. Hispano Suiza claims a WLTP range of up to 480 km, approximately 100 km more than with the previous battery. Kerb weight is quoted at 1,875 kg, depending on the final specification.
The larger battery improves usability, but the additional mass places greater demands on the brakes, tyres and traction-control system. HSDD is therefore more than a marketing feature on the Carmen Sagrera. It must turn the four motors’ instantaneous torque into manageable performance and ensure that this 820 kW rear-wheel-drive hypercar is capable of more than merely being fast in a straight line.
In the European electric-hypercar market, outright power alone is not enough to distinguish the Carmen Sagrera. Its technical merit will depend on how naturally HSDD can reconcile rear-wheel drive, substantial mass and four-motor torque distribution. Hispano Suiza promises electronics that remain almost invisible to the driver, but the decisive test will be how little their intervention is felt from behind the wheel.
