Whoa! It’s the new look of the high-mileage vehicle
May 21, 2009 by Tom GuayPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, News, Technology
Low and behold, the first American vehicle to reach the fabled 100 mile per gallon (mpg) mark will make former vice president Al Gore grit his green teeth!
It’s the Hummer. The future of the green car has arrived, well before Detroit automakers agreed to meet President Obama’s proposal to make cars that get 39 mpg on average, 30 mpg for light trucks. The Hummer already gets 100 mpg. At least a modified version does — on paper.
Derided by folk singers Them Eastport Oyster Boys as an “Eco-Destroyer,” the gas-guzzling behemoth is now available as a hybrid electric that reportedly gets 100 mpg on its gasoline engine.
As with most electrics, though, it only gets a 40-mile range when running on all electric mode. But considering its size and weight, a 40-mile range is pretty good. It may be just enough to get you to the next gas station for a fill up.
The big green plus is that this Hummer greatly reduces greenhouse gases and smog-producing air pollution. And, it helps reduce American dependence on imported oil.
Pictures of the hybrid Hummer, converted by Raser Technologies, are here.
It’s not a joke. Raser is serious about introducing the modified Hummer and started cozying up to politicians yesterday. Sen. Orin Hatch (R-UT) introduced his fellow Senators yesterday afternoon to the electric-hybrid Hummer H3 during a photo op and drive around the block event on Capitol Hill.
However, as with all things Hummer, there’s controversy. Some say Raser’s 100 mpg claim is bogus, that the electric hybrid Hummer only gets 33 mpg. Still, that’s better than most small and mid-sized cars on the road today.
Price tag? If you have to ask, then it’s not for you.
The 100-mpg Hummer was developed by Raser in cooperation with General Motors and its Hummer division.
Tags: green car, greenhouse gas, hybrid electric, smog
GreenandMore.com
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May 28th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
“The electric hybrid hummer only gets 33 mpg. still better than most small and mid size cars on the road today”
Not true, just bought a Ford fusion Hybrid, and drove San Jose to Vegas and back, i’ve got about 38 mpg. about 660 miles, filled up in Vegas got home on one tank.
supposedly you can drive 700 on a tank of gas (18gl) of city driving, have not verified that yet.
May 28th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I think it is great that they can make a Hummer get 100 mpg. I’ve known for years (with a little experiementation of my own) that full size gas powered vehicles can get over 40 mpg. The problem is that the government is requiring this instead of the free market. Anytime the government dictates how we make something, what it does, who can buy or who can’t (you see the picture) it is pure socialism. We did not get to where we are today via socialism. Free market enterprize works if the government stays out. It has for the last couple of hundred years.
May 29th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Chris White stop with the socialism non-sense already. If the free market has taken two hundred years and this is the best we can do, that scary. Not to mention Wall Street free market greed is putting the auto manufacturers out of business. The hard labor of mind and body of all Americans is being put to the test.
May 29th, 2009 at 9:19 am
I am also not a big believer in government intervention. However if you look at the history of automobile technology. Many of the best features, especially fuel economy, were born from government mandate. The best example is seat belts. When it was first announced that a governmandate was coming, all of the car companies cried the blues. Shortly after, even the car companies would agree it became one of their best selling features.
May 29th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Response to Chris White: Free market enterprize does not work without government regulation to promote the common good. Now sometimes we get bad politicians and bad policies and then it’s up to us to throw the bums out. But we’d all be worse off without some common sense regulation; you only have to look at Wall Street to see that.
August 7th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Unbelievable. We are a gullible bunch aren’t we? They were building cars with fuel injection systems in the fifties. They were building cars that got over 30mpg 40 years ago. Politics man, silly politics.
The ‘puppetmasters’ don’t want consumers driving 100mpg cars. That wouldn’t allow them to keep their hands so far down in our pockets.
I did a home-repair job for a man who gets 100+mpg in a Winnebago. He built the system himself and was forbidden to ever build it again. I saw what he built and it appeard to be made up of parts from an airless spray rig. Of that I cannot be sure, but he swears it gets better than 100mpg. And the motor is a 454c.i.d. Chevy.
So, the technology is there and has been there for years. Go figure…
August 12th, 2009 at 6:01 am
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