Ferrari green initiatives

Ferrari’s commitment

When researching a product or a company, the quality of the final product is no longer the only criteria. Times have changed, and green thinking has become more important than ever. Ferrari, too, has made a statement of commitment:

Photo of Ferrari car

“The quality of our cars cannot be separated from the lives of the people working at the Ferrari plant. What keeps together the workers’ manual skill, their humanity, the work of those who carry out the processes and those who supervise them and the cars they produce is the special care that we take over the environment. 

Light, air, vegetation, relaxation areas, cleanliness, functionality and regulated temperatures contribute not only to the quality of work and life, but also to creativity and excellence of the product. The architectural project is also accompanied by investments and programs aimed at improving safety at the workplace and environmental sustainability.”

With great dedication, the company is following this statement every step of the way.

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The factory

Those who are familiar with the perfection that is Ferrari sports cars should not be surprised to find out that the factory, too, is a state of art building. Located in a small town of Maranello, Italy, the bright, airy factory building is a fine example of bioclimatic architecture in action. Some of the world’s finest architects have been involved in various stages of the development of the building complex that is reminiscent of a campus rather than a conventional factory.

Photo of a Ferrari factory

Eco Factor Solar roof generates 210 MWh of electricity annually.

With installed new photovoltaic and trigeneration systems and a massive solar array, Ferrari factory is almost completely self-sufficient in energy production and has reduced CO2 emissions. Bathed in natural light, the low environmental impact buildings have plenty of green and relaxation areas – both indoor and outdoor. 

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The well-being of the employees

Noise, light and temperature levels in greenery areas are all optimised. Working in such clean, functional surroundings improves Ferrari employees’ quality of life and output, which directly contributes to the creativity and overall excellence of the final product.

A lot of the work that goes into manufacturing a Ferrari is manual labour; the working class man plays a vital role at Ferrari, making up 60 per cent of the workforce. All staff works regular business hours, and once the clock strikes 5pm, people leisurely stroll out of the factory. The campus is so large that the staff has bicycles at their disposal. Needless to say, Ferrari has been voted as one of the best employers.

A green Ferrari

An electric sports car at the first sound might seem like a contradiction. But it is a fact nonetheless – sports cars are getting greener while getting faster all the time. Ferrari has introduced the stop-start technology in some of the latest models already.

Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa’s main concern with electric motors is that they can provide plenty of oomph, but the experience driving a silent sports car is not a Ferrari experience. “One of the emotions of driving a Ferrari is the sound of the engine.” The technology is not yet ready enough to meet his demands, but Felisa confirms that there will be hybrid Ferraris, but only in a few years time.

One likely approach while incorporating electric motors, batteries and other technologies might be borrowed from F1 cars, which is a kinetic-energy recovery system which takes some of the braking force and uses it to boost acceleration.

As the former Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo has stated, “I don’t believe in the electric cars, but I strongly believe in hybrids.” In effort to reach the perfect point of balance where Ferrari still feels like a Ferrari when driven, in the next years Ferrari plans to spend €250 million of its research and development budget into lowering emissions on cars and in their production.

Photo of a forest

Considering how small is the percentage of Ferrari cars on a global scale, it is but a small step in the big picture of the environmental changes, but one that matters regardless.

Nov 10, 2015
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