ferrari going green?

[jaspergtr]

Originally Posted by yahoo.com

BERLIN (AFP) - 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 said Saturday.

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

i'd like to see where this goes.

[anotherOAKg]

Top Gear had an awesome comparison two episodes ago about how long various super cars racing full speed on a gallon (I think) of fuel.

Having said that, in my opnion its not so much of going 'green' as it is to use practical technology to make the car more efficient (ie. longer distance travelled in between fills).

I think most ferrari owners would be all for better gas mileage. I don't think it has anything to do with the cost but more so the bitch of filling up the tank after a little bit of spirited driving.

[jaspergtr]

i guess they've been using the formula 1 program for r&d on this.

[HomieG35]

Why can't they just cut and alternate between 4 cylinders for highway driving instead of needing all 12 working all the time? It could cut between 4, 8, and 12 cylinders (or 5, 10, etc depending on total number of cylinders).

You don't need 600hp for cruising down the highway... I'm sure they could atleast inrease the hwy MPG that way...

[GreenGoblin]

I would like to see where this development leads to as well

[redlude97]

blah. The environmental impact a company as small as ferrari is going to have by going green will be minuscule IMO.

[jaspergtr]

right. but how much technology spills over from supercars and racing programs?

engines, transmissions, brakes, safety, suspension, etc...

if they can find a better way to do it, than for example - chrysler, i'm all for it.

[AGThing1227]

Originally Posted by redlude97

blah. The environmental impact a company as small as ferrari is going to have by going green will be minuscule IMO.

+1, think about it. Not many people own or have the financials to own a ferrari. Not even if just all the civic's went green will it be enough to make an impact. EVERYONE would have to go green before we start seeing results IMO.

[zazaracing]

all this goin green crap is whats making gas sore... screw it, breathe my fumes

[stanfna]

Originally Posted by HomieG35

Why can't they just cut and alternate between 4 cylinders for highway driving instead of needing all 12 working all the time? It could cut between 4, 8, and 12 cylinders (or 5, 10, etc depending on total number of cylinders).

You don't need 600hp for cruising down the highway... I'm sure they could atleast inrease the hwy MPG that way...

^ +1 - that is how the Veyron is. you have a separate key to turn on the other half of the engine!


also...even if Ferrari did cut emissions on all their cars by half...it would not make a difference. think about how often you actually see a Ferrari on the road.

[Jeff92se]

I would think they are probably using alternative fuels that are cleaner. But a biofuel diesel Ferrari would be interesting.

It sounds odd but it make sense. Ferraris command a high price tag. Some Green tech is EXPENSIVE to impliment. A Ferrai price structure can command a price that justifies the expense as long as the performance is there.

It's like the Lexus hybrids. Some of those luxury hybrids are expensive as HELL.

[IVRY PRL]

Originally Posted by redlude97

blah. The environmental impact a company as small as ferrari is going to have by going green will be minuscule IMO.

Ferrari is not doing this to better the world. There's a lot of poser celebrities out there that have lots of money, and want to continue getting lots of money by building an environmentally friendly image, so they all own Priuses. I'm absolutely certain that they hate the pieces of crap, and deep down could give a fvck less about the environment. Now those same people can buy Ferraris, and Ferrari can sell more cars.

[IVRY PRL]

This is so weird... I READ the post below mine before I posted mine..

[jaspergtr]

like i said... i don't think ferrari itself can change anything. but the technologies that these supercar companies discover, almost always works it's way down to the 'civic' (as stated above).

it's corporations making the change... not some stupid law that is telling them to.