The Ferrari HY-KERS concept, the first hybrid from the prancing stallion, is essentially a Ferrari 599 with a strap-on 107HP electric motor. So, a Geo Metro's worth of electric power and a screaming V12. Hey enviro-nerds, the paint's green, right?
That's right, it's an ordinary Ferrari 599 with a hybrid powertrain. And by "hybrid Ferrari" we mean "ass-hauling greenie"-it has an electric motor with more power than a Geo Metro and a screaming V12. While this is only a concept, Ferrari tells us that a production hybrid will arrive in three to five years. To accommodate the electric motor, Ferrari swapped out the 599's six-speed automated manual for a seven-speed dual-clutch unit — the same one used in the 458 Italia.
Ferrari claims it's worked hard to make the HY-KERS's dynamics unaffected by carrying 220 Lbs of hybrid gubbins. So what's the point of having them? Oh, we guess it can operate in electric-only mode when Al Gore's watching.
Ferrari, Porsche and other makers of extremely low volume cars that rarely get driven and have virtually no impact on the environment as a result are under pressure from the EU to reduce their corporate average emissions. Ferrari, for instance, needs to drop 40% off its CO2 emissions by the end of the year. The way they're getting there is with utterly unnecessary vehicles like this Ferrari HY-KERS and, way more sensibly, installing common-sense energy saving methods at its factories. To do this, Ferrari's installed a solar roof at it's factory that's capable of generating 210,000 kWh of electricity annually and now uses something it calls "Trigeneration" to create its power, heat and cooling all from one big, green machine.
Despite the name, the HY-KERS has a fairly standard hybrid drive system complete with regenerative braking, not DANGER HIGH VOLTAGE F1 KERS stuff. That means a 100 HP electric motor is grafted on to the 7-speed manumatic tranny. 100 HP is incidentally what's need to make up for the added weight. Yay, progress! There's also some mumbling about it operating in electric-only mode, but this presumably takes place only at very low speeds and for very short distances. Like say from the entrance of the private airport to the stairs to your private jet, which probably pollutes more than all the Ferrari 599's in the world, combined.