Ferrari 430 Spider Bio Fuel Concept
Emerging reports indicate that Ferrari will unveil an E85 ethanol-powered version of the 430 Spider tomorrow at the North American International Auto Show, and it looks like they’re right because we ran into this car on the show floor today. Labeled as the 430 Spider Bio Fuel, the roadster runs on the familiar mix of 85% natural ethanol and 15% gasoline, which reports suggest yield a modest 2% increase in power. That’s enough to bring the 4.3-liter V8’s output up to 500 from the standard 490 with torque rising 4% and fuel economy improving by 5%.
The vehicle being shown at Ferrari’s always-scarletastic Detroit booth is strictly a concept at the moment, as the company has not decided when, or even if the car will be put into production. As Ferrari points out, the main locations where ethanol is readily available – like the Midwest states, Brazil and Sweden – are not major markets for the sportscar maker. But if ethanol were to become more readily available in, say, California (where Maranello ships 10% of its production each year), the more environmentally conscious supercar would be fast-tracked for production.
According to Automotive News preliminary data points in the positive direction with power output increased by 10hp to 500 hp with torque up 4% and fuel consumption down by 5%. But there is no need to get your cheque books out just yet, the production is said to be “not close”,whch is backed up by the fact E85 fuel is only widely in areas where Ferrari sales are negligible such as U.S. Midwest states, Brazil and Sweden. However a ferrari official has said that if E85 became widely available in California (where 10% of Ferrari’s worldwide sales are) then this Bio Fuel model would become a viable option.
Ferrari doesn’t do a lot of concept cars, and although this isn’t the first “green” concept Maranello has shown, it seems a far more realistic short-term prospect than the previous cardboard Mille Chili design study.
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[...] from the standard 490 with torque rising 4% and fuel economy improving by 5%. Why do they bother? Ferrari 430 Spider Bio Fuel Concept | Top Green Cars __________________ Don’t believe everything you [...]
Nowhere does the press release say that it gets better mileage, it has 5% less CO2 output. No E85 car I have ever read about gets better miles per gallon when using E85 as opposed to normal gasoline! I’m sure this is no different, since ethanol does not contain as much energy per unit as gasoline.
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Biofue…
bio fuel is overated. I predict that all the millions that are going into this research are a waste.
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