[AshSimmonds]

Sports car manufacturer Ferrari intends to cut its vehicles' greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half and is working on developing hybrid vehicles, the company president says.

"We want to reduce our CO2 emissions by 40 per cent between now and 2012," Luca Cordero di Montezemolo told the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, in an interview to be published on Sunday.

But he insisted that any future hybrid Ferrari would still be "fundamentally a Ferrari".

"We are currently working on the development of a Ferrari that will use alternative energy sources and which will be based on what we are doing at the moment in Formula 1," he said, referring to Ferrari's Kinetic Energy Recycling System (KERS), which is designed to draw extra power from the brakes.

Such a vehicle would be ready to go on the market around 2015.

Asked about the likelihood of fans of the powerful red sports cars buying a Ferrari with a hybrid or electric engine, the boss of the famous racing machines answered: "Yes, of course. It's the best sports car in the world. It's still fundamentally a Ferrari."

http://news.smh.com.au/business/ferrari-to-develop-hybrid-sports-cars-20080706-32em.html

[AshSimmonds]

Ferrari hybrid supercar in development

World's most famous supercar brand targets 2015 for its first ever petrol-electric model. By TOBY HAGON.
 
Ferrari has joined the hybrid race and could have a petrol-electric car on sale by 2015.

Joining the likes of Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and BMW in developing fuel-saving petrol-electric hybrid vehicles, the Italian brand that’s known for its high-powered two-door sports cars is currently testing a prototype hybrid powertrain in the body of the sleek 599 coupe.

Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa says improving the brand’s environmental performance is the single most important issue for the company, accounting for “more than 50 per cent” of the research and development budget.

“We are running a 599 prototype [with hybrid technology],” says Felisa. “We have to understand how you can benefit from hybrid technology.”

Ferrari says the Ferrari hybrid development is in its infancy with testing to date confined to the laboratory.

But Ferrari is planning to run hybrid prototypes on its Italian test track as it works to introducing a hybrid car to showrooms as early as 2015.

“You can use hybrid to reduce [fuel] consumption or to enhance the performance,” says Felisa, saying Ferrari will consider both options.

However, Felisa says Ferrari is not looking at electric vehicles, which many see as the most logical solution to lessening the automobile’s dependence on fossil fuels and reducing greenhouse-gas-causing carbon dioxide emissions.

“I don’t think that electric is something that is suitable for Ferrari,” says Felisa, emphasising that the scream of a high revving engine accounts for much of the Ferrari DNA.

In line with new regulations for Formula One, Ferrari has a form of mild hybrid technology in this year’s race cars.

“It’s a costly but good experience with F1 and we’re looking at how we can transfer that [to road cars],” says Felisa.

Porsche was the first established sports car maker to announce it would build a hybrid car, with petrol-electric versions of its Cayenne off-roader and upcoming Panamera four-door in the wings.

Toyota remains the leader in hybrid technology, having sold more than a million of its Prius hatchbacks. Almost every mainstream brand is developing hybrid technology.

http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/ArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=61301&vf=26

[AshSimmonds]

Ferrari Confirms Hybrid Development, First Model Due In 2015

Break out the patchouli folks, Ferrari’s developing a hybrid.

With Ferrari’s president Luca di Montezemolo pledging the brand will cut its fleet emissions by 40 percent by 2012, the race to design, refine and manufacture a workable performance-oriented hybrid system is well-and-truly underway.

But don’t think the Prancing Horse is going the way of the Prius. No, rather than rely on heavy batteries and electric motors, Ferrari is instead testing a 599 GTB with a version of the Formula One-derived Kinetic Energy Recovery System hooked up to its drivetrain.

Ferrari’s system recovers the vehicle’s energy during braking by channeling it via a CVT gearbox into a flywheel.

Low friction bearings preserve the flywheel’s energy until the driver demands a burst of power, at which point the CVT gearbox transfers the flywheel’s stored energy back to the wheels.

The technology is currently being tested in a road-going 599 GTB Fiorano, however that doesn’t mean the luxurious V12-powered GT car will be featuring it on its options list in the future. The first production Ferrari hybrid isn’t slated to appear until 2015, and odds are the 599 will be long gone by then.

Ferrari isn’t putting all it’s eco-friendly eggs into the one KERS-branded basket, however, with the company also investigating the suitability of a twin-turbocharged V6 for its future models.

Ferrari aficionados brought up on a diet of howling V12s and manic V8s may cringe at the thought, but it’s pleasing to hear that even the most hedonistic of automotive brands is taking the environment (semi) seriously.

http://www.themotorreport.com.au/22609/ferrari-confirms-hybrid-development-first-model-due-in-2015/

[dkabab]

screw the environment.....

[AshSimmonds]

Ferrari Lodges Patent For Hybrid Drive System

PATENT LODGED by Ferrari suggests the Italian automaker may be working on bringing a hybrid powertrain to market, which would most certainly be a first for a road-going supercar.

Such a system would also bring another significant milestone for Ferrari, as the patent describes a drivetrain that would supply power to all four wheels. To date, all of Ferrari’s cars have been rear-wheel-drive.

Ferrari has outlined six different configurations in its patent, all of which see the electric motors driving the front wheels independently of the engine, which drives the rear wheels exclusively.

It also appears the objective isn’t fuel-efficiency or even outright performance, but a design that features part-time all-wheel-drive without the mechanical drag and weight of a conventional AWD drivetrain.

Ferrari’s patent describes a system that can be applied to both front-engined and rear-engined platforms, meaning it won’t necessarily be exclusive to one particular model.

The exact configuration of the system isn’t clear - Ferrari’s submissions include wheels driven by in-wheel motors, as well as an electric motor connected to a common differential - but it’s apparent that the company doesn’t see it as an environmental initiative.

The following is an excerpt from the patent application:

The aim of the present invention is to provide a four-wheel -drive vehicle with hybrid propulsion.

The four-wheel drive that can be engaged enables the driver of the automobile to decide whether to use the rear drive or the four-wheel drive; in this way, the driver can use the rear drive in optimal conditions of adherence and can use the four- wheel drive in poor conditions of adherence

Obviously such a system would allow for an EV-only mode to cut emissions during city driving, but considering one of the key appeals of Ferrari ownership is the noise, we doubt many owners would ever opt for it. Besides that, there’s been no timeline given for the introduction of a hybrid Ferrari and we doubt such a vehicle will be debuting in the near future.

However, when one of the world’s foremost supercar manufacturers starts contemplating a hybrid powertrain, it’s as good a sign as any that we live in interesting times indeed. We’ll be keeping an eye out for any future developments

http://www.themotorreport.com.au/32100/ferrari-lodges-patent-for-hybrid-drive-system/

[AshSimmonds]

http://www.carsguide.com.au/site/news-and-reviews/car-news/ferrari_wont_go_electric

Ferrari won’t go electric
Paul Gover

The world's most charismatic car company will not be plugging into the electric car revolution.

Ferrari emphatically rejects any potential for an all-electric supercar in its future.  The company's chief, Amedeo Felisa, says sound is such an important part of any Ferrari that a silent battery car will not be acceptable to customers who buy into its high-priced V8 and V12-powered road rockets.

"We cannot do one," Felisa says, speaking in Sydney this week at the opening of a new landmark dealership and the local preview of the 458 Italia. "The sound is so important.  "It's part of the development of our cars. The sound of the Ferrari … is part of the image of the brand."

He also questions whether electric cars are truly the answer to the needs of future motoring "If you look at global warming, full electric is not the solution. It is a marketing solution.  "Hybrid, but done in a proper way, is the best solution. But it needs a lot of development to be done."

Ferrari is heading fast into the hybrid world and is set to unveil a petrol-electric 599 at the Geneva Motor Show next month in Europe before starting sales of a hybrid California in 2011.

"We have to face the fact that the future brings something new in engineering. We have to face the new challenges," Felisa says.  He says the 599 hybrid will have a battery pack weighing around 100 kilograms with an electric engine integrated into the existing powertrain as a booster for the V12 petrol motor. The car will also run on pure electric power, but only at low speeds in city use.

Development work is already into the second phase, heading for production use, following more than four years of research and development.  "We have a car that has been running for one year. Now we are doing the second step . . .  how to apply that technology to Ferrari cars."

He says the 599 hybrid is fully operation but stresses it is only a concept car and not ready for production.  "This is not a new car, it is the concept," he says.

On the electric front, Felisa says Ferrari has considered a plug-in car but the noise problem cannot be overcome. Not even with the sort of active noise systems being developed by another sports car maker, Lotus, for more pedestrian brands.

"We don't like to do it. It is not just a noise, it is the sound coming from our cars, from the engine, from the exhaust, from the gearbox, from the road," he says.  "We don't just put speakers in the car to make a noise."

[Pazzo Canguro]

http://www.carsguide.com.au/site/news-and-reviews/car-news/ferrari_wont_go_electric

A PURE DISGRACE if you ask me.....thanks for your BULLSHIT Al Gore.....totally bs... 

[tentacles1]

Ferrari 599 Vettura Hybrid