To hybrid or not to hybrid: Ferrari’s director general: ‘A hybrid Ferrari will come’

omarrana submitted on 12/05/2007 Official AutoSpies Timestamp: 3:53 PM
from: www.egmcartech.com

Tags: Ferrari

Ferrari

To hybrid or not to hybrid: Ferrari’s director general: ‘A hybrid Ferrari will come’

When Ferrari revealed the FXX Millechili Concept, many said that the concept echoed Ferrari’s green future. Some even said a hybrid based on the FXX Millechili was in the works. Then other stories muttered Ferrari won’t be going the hybrid route since it would compromise the performance of the Italian stallion.

Well now, according to Ferrari’s Director General, Amedeo Felisa, Ferrari will indeed produce a hybrid. In a recent interview with Auto Motor and Sport, Felisa said that ”A hybrid solution will come. We see the hybrid but also dynamic aspects. Besides which: From now on... Read Article

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GreenPlease - 12/5/2007 9:43:14 PM

+2 Boost

Don't think Ferrari will go hybrid? Look at F1 for a glimpse of the future:
-http://www.motorauthority.com/news/motorsport/brake-energy-regeneration-in-f1-by-2009/

Cliff Notes: the ToroTrak KERS system uses a flywheel and a CVT transmission to recover braking energy. Said system will give an F1 car an additional 80hp for 6.67 seconds. That's a performance advantage, fuel economy aside.

Such a system could be "pre-charged" at idle in a Ferrari and, theoretically, could be swapped into existing drive trains with little modification. Total weight is 25kg. Not a bad swap if you ask me.

Said system could be used to dramatically enhance low-end torque response while allowing engineers to spec the engine for high-rpm capability. These features are usually mutually exclusive due to fluid dynamics, which is why we don't see a Ferrari with a 10K red line. The low end response of such an engine would simply be unacceptable.

With low-end torque problems satisfied, engineers could up the red line and, consequently, specific power. With an increase in specific power they can begin downsizing without sacrificing power.

Ultimately, a Ferrari with a downsized engine and a KERS system will have a better power band, weigh less, accelerate/corner faster, and just be all around better.

P.S.

Don't worry about a Prius style system. Short of a breakthrough in capacitors (ala EEStor), such systems add unnecessary complexity and weight to a performance vehicle unless a series-hybrid approach is taken. Such a scenario is improbable for Ferrari as it would kill the exhaust note.

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BMW995 - 12/5/2007 5:14:23 PM

+3 Boost

Ferrari could use high-performance capacitors instead of lithum-ion batteries. The capacitors will give a big boost off the line and weigh much less than battery packs.

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S4cabriofoxone - 12/5/2007 5:56:31 PMView My AgentSpace

+1 Boost

NOOOO!!! THE DEATH OF THE FERRARI EXHAUST NOTE!

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S4cabriofoxone - 12/5/2007 8:36:43 PMView My AgentSpace

+3 Boost

I hope so...

Because this would just be... evil...

S4cabriofoxone - 12/6/2007 5:09:21 PMView My AgentSpace

+1 Boost

bleek, if you WANT this to happen, you are simply inane. Okay, GREAT, we KNOW Toyota makes LOTS and LOTS of hybrids and they have LOTS and LOTS of money. You have established that. But what's a good idea in a mass-market CHEAP car like the Prius isn't so good in a SUPERCAR like a Ferrari. Case in point, the hybrid, which would suck when applied to any car coming out of Maranello.

KillBot - 12/5/2007 6:14:35 PM

+3 Boost

I think that Ferrari should give it a shot, but maybe under the Maserati label. I think that it will take a TRUE performance driven company, like Ferrari, it make a fun to drive hybrid. Will it have the specs of a traditional thoroughbred, no. But you've gotta start somewhere, and it days of now, and to come, green is in. But performance green is still yet to be TRULY seen.

Killbot

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S4cabriofoxone - 12/5/2007 8:37:30 PMView My AgentSpace

+1 Boost

I agree! Maserati would be a much better guinea pig for this. A hybrid Quattroporte would show the LS600hL who's boss.

S4cabriofoxone - 12/6/2007 5:10:00 PMView My AgentSpace

+1 Boost

Is that all you can think to say?

1970toyotamarc - 12/5/2007 6:31:34 PM

+1 Boost

Y'all are a bunch of Luddites. Embrace the future!!!!

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ATrain - 12/5/2007 8:47:30 PM

+2 Boost

This may be politically motivated. If you follow recent EU statements, I wouldn't be surprised if they have agreed to play nice - or at least talk nice - to avoid direct intervention.

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t_bone - 12/5/2007 8:14:34 PM

+1 Boost

All of the innovation that we enjoy today, all the prestigious "brands" and major achievements, were set into place by innovators and thinkers who were not concerned with the status quo.

The same spirit that we saw out of Ferrari and Porsche 50 years ago is the same spirit that thrills engineers today when they look at the incredible innovations in coreless motors, magnets, and batteries of the last 5-10 years.

So what will it be? Are you on the side of innovation, or do you worship at the Church of Exhaust Note? Because I think up in heaven Enzo and Ferdinard are playing around with A123 engineering battery sample kits and having a blast, wishing they could have had those things back when they were building cars.

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S4cabriofoxone - 12/5/2007 8:39:09 PMView My AgentSpace

0 Boost

"So what will it be? Are you on the side of innovation, or do you worship at the Church of Exhaust Note?"

It's the Church of Exhaust Note for me, thanks. Innovation in the past is what made Ferrari such an amazing company today, yes. But some innovation doesn't work. Ferrari is a performance-driven company. As Lexus has proven, hybrid cars can't be performance cars.

ATrain - 12/5/2007 8:51:15 PM

+2 Boost

Personally, I think you could innovate in the church of exhaust note... That's the real innovation that drove people such as Ferdinand and Enzo.

The box? Foughetaboutit...

RealitySmack - 12/7/2007 4:04:36 PM

+1 Boost

Lexus hasn't proved anything, yet! If the new FT-HS or what not comes out in the few years with a rumored hybrid set-up and deliver the claimed 4-4.5sec(?) 0-60 time than THAT may prove that Lexus has achieved the "performance" goal. Hybrid is at its starting stage so, to claim that Lexus (or any other brand) has failed to prove it's potential is incorrect. Think about the earliest engines! Were they as good as the engines you see today in performance/efficiency? No! We are at the starting stage of hybrid technology and innovation is what will make it better, powerful, efficient, etc...

RealitySmack - 12/7/2007 4:08:12 PM

+1 Boost

Oh, just wanted to add that when I'm talking about hybrids, I am not defending just 1 hybrid technology made by 1 company. There are many variants of hybrid and we haven't proved which ones are promising. Therefore, time and innovation will tell.

huu76 - 12/5/2007 11:03:48 PM

+1 Boost

Ferrari can do whatever it wants for now.

foxy,
The Quattroporte is nice, but they turbocharged it so much that its V8 gets V12 economy and is hardly faster than the LS600hL (remember that comparison?) which has a weight disadvantage yet gets 20mpg.

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Rupert - 12/6/2007 4:46:49 PMView My AgentSpace

+2 Boost

Yes the Quattroporte is turbocharged so much it has absolutely no turbos...

It has a Ferrari V8 for chrissakes huu! Nearly 100hp/litre!

RealitySmack - 12/7/2007 3:55:47 PM

+1 Boost

"You think there is a hybrid Porsche 911 coming, come on get in touch with reality. Performance car companies make performance cars, they are not into saving the planet."

I'm not gonna say that Porsche may come out with a hybrid or not. Because I don't claim to know. However, performance does NOT mean a Gasoline Engine! The statement that "Performance car companies make performance cars, they are not into saving the planet." is just absurd. Since, an engine is only 1 part of the performance criteria, it is not the ONLY one. I'm no tree hugger and many people who buy expensive sports cars may also not be, but that's where the *market* is headed. So from a business standpoint, if you want to survive (I mean: 60+ years from now) than you need to get on the boat now and loose the gas engine = performance ego.

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EnvyofyouRS5 - 12/6/2007 3:41:40 AM

+1 Boost

Although this may be a great topic for such a great company like ferrari is, I think they the message here is to make the less affordable and prestegious companies know that The economy should come first right now, and that even the most thorough-bred cars can make a change for the better, When non-thorough bred companies are still just worried upon competition.
about 99 Percent of the population does not own Ferrari's, SO it would not make a difference in pollution factor, And the company knows that. But to see them taking a step to lead not just track-wise but what that track strives on-(The world), makes ferrari who they are a true elite company.

JPA Jaime Perez

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Bill - 12/6/2007 6:25:18 AM

-2 Boost

This hybrid fad is going too far. I mean a hybrid Ferrari? Come on.

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t_bone - 12/6/2007 10:00:04 AM

+4 Boost

It amazes me that some of you won't even take two minutes to sit back and THINK about hybrid technology.

The strawman argument of "all hybrids are slow in 2007; therefore hybrid technology is slow" is such a laughably obvious fallacy I'm surprised you buy into it.

Saying it is a "fad" because of silly vehicles like the Lexus may be excusable to the general public, but not to Autospies readership.

If you even just think of one thing, for example the TREMENDOUS braking forces absorbed in a deep corner of a racing circuit, and essential need for GOBS of TORQUE just a half-second later as the turn exits, you'd see that is a SLAM DUNK for an energy regeneration technology of any sort (flywheel, capacitor, or battery).

And that's only one of MANY examples.

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ZZZZ - 12/7/2007 4:45:41 AM

0 Boost

all the short term memory critics seem to have forgotten the article not too long ago, about a hybrid toyota celica.

... which WON by a WIDE MARGIN in a race in japan. among the also rans, were several porsches.

ZZZZ - 12/7/2007 4:57:35 AM

+2 Boost

the energy absorbed and THROWN AWAY by your brakes in an ordinary 60 - 0 stop, is sufficient to cook a breakfast.

imagine pumping the energy otherwise wasted, in hauling down a car from say 200 mph to 55, for that bend at the end of a straight. ordinary batteries can't even absorb all that energy quickly enuff, but capacitors can.

easy to imagine WHY the hybrid celica just ran away from the rest of the field.

no1listensanyway - 12/6/2007 12:08:03 PMView My AgentSpace

+1 Boost

I do not agree with this, but it will probably be the most beautiful hybrid ever made.

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huu76 - 12/6/2007 10:57:13 PM

+1 Boost

Rupert,
My mistake, I just assumed it was turbocharged considering it's god awful mileage. I'm not sure which is worse though.

Let me get this straight. With 700lbs more weight, the LS600hL can keep up (.2 sec isn't much) with a Ferrari engine?

Why do they keep on comparing the LS to lowly BMW's and Benzes then when it clearly belongs with Ferrari. I'm being a smartass.

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S4cabriofoxone - 12/9/2007 1:13:48 AMView My AgentSpace

+1 Boost

"Let me get this straight. With 700lbs more weight, the LS600hL can keep up (.2 sec isn't much) with a Ferrari engine?"

When it's that much more powerful (40hp more), almost. The Maserati is still about a full second quicker, though.

"Why do they keep on comparing the LS to lowly BMW's and Benzes then when it clearly belongs with Ferrari."

Well, when the S600 and S8 can both leave the Maserati in the dust, where does that put them? With Bugatti? LOL.

Obliv - 12/7/2007 2:59:20 PM

+2 Boost

Diesels > hybrids.

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