599 HY-KERS, Ferrari Goes Green

Ferrari and Porsche seem to be falling over themselves to show their green credentials at the Geneva motorshow. Porsche unveiled the 918 concept, whilst Ferrari showed a 599 fitted with a hybrid KERS system and just to reinforce the greenness a vivid green paintjob (which I quite like).

The system can give an additional 100 bhp in short bursts and the car can also run on the battery power alone for short periods. While it will not be available on the 599 or any other Ferrari model for a few years it does show how Ferrari plan to cut emmissions without compromising performance. The car is said to accelerate slightly faster than the standard car with the increase in performance outweighing the increase in weight of the KERS system. The batteries are mounted low in the chassis resulting in a slightly lower center of gravity.

There have been a few mutterings on the internet that the sudden push for Supercar Hybrids is just a fad and is somewhat irrelevant due to the relatively small overall contribution they make. I think this is a somewhat shortsighted view as that assumes that owners of supercars don't care about the environment and more importantly Ferrari, Porsche et al still need to comply with future emmission laws, and a move to hybrid power is currently the most feasible way of achieving this (I don't think a Ferrari diesel is on the cards). I do think hybrids are only a short term solution though, as with if something like 50% of the worlds car production went to hybrids this would put serious pressure on the price of the rare metals needed to make them which would push car prices up and also create a new environmental problem when the question of how all these batteries are disposed of arises?

In addition to the 599 HY KERS, Ferrari have released this video showing the green credentials of the Maranello factory (allegedly the greenest car factory in Europe). As factories go looks like a nice place to work but then the products coming off the production line are not bad either