Ferrari goes Eco Friendly Green

Yes, I am a Ferrari Freak and me and the V are planning on putting a collection together one day. Just sell more and you never know this baby might be in your garage. The car is based on the 599 GTB Fiorano. Ferrari put the motor, batteries and related electronics as low as possible in the car to keep the center of gravity low and preserve interior space. It appears to have worked — Ferrari says the hybrid’s center of gravity is lower than the 599s, so the vehicle dynamics are unchanged. We’ll have to take the firm’s word for it, because obviously we haven’t driven the car.

The compact motor weighs 40 kilograms (about 88 pounds) and is mounted at the back of a seven-speed paddle-shifted transmission taken from the 458 Italia parts bin. It works through one of the transmission’s two clutches and engages the gearbox shaft carrying the odd-numbered gears. Ferrari says the motor produces 107 horsepower and 111 pound-feet of torque, according to Automobile. Electricity is stored in a 3-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack said to be just an inch thick. It’s mounted under the floorboard and runs the length of the floor pan. It is air-cooled. Of course the Hy-Kers has regenerative braking — hit the binders and the kinetic energy is returned to the battery. The system was developed using Ferrari’s experience with kinetic energy recovery systems in Formula 1 racing. The same control module that manages the re-gen also manages the power supply and recharges the batteries. Ancillary systems like power steering and power-assisted brakes are also electric.