100 MPG Hummer???!!!!

[Steve Moskowitz]

http://www.switched.com/2009/04/18/new-hybrid-hummer-gets-100-miles-per-gallon/

No commentary...just passing this along!

[2doorcoupeman]

It's interesting to note that GM is shopping the Hummer line to sell it.Would be funny to see a tree hugger company buy the hummer line and have their top executives drive them,hehe.

[Reatta Man]

Like.....Acorn?????

Hey, we DID just give them a couple of billion......

[Dave@Moon]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> "Unlike the Prius, which is a mild hybrid vehicle, an eco-friendly SUV will get people's attention." </div></div>

The Prius is not a mild hybrid. The spokesman is confusing "full hybrid" with "plug-in hybrid" and/or "pure hybrid".

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Spellman also noted that the size of the vehicle came into play because of the required battery packs. "There was plenty of room in the back of the Hummer to install them, and they don't affect the ground clearance of the vehicle," he said. </div></div>

The largest full hybrid vehicle batteries are about the size of a suitcase (see http://www.hybridcars.com/hybrid-car-battery), and no hybrid vehicle uses multiple "battery packs"--just one. Even the pure hybrid Chevy Volt uses one battery back, about the size of a small man. This guy is describing a BEV (battery electric vehicle), like a Tesla.

I hope their engineers know cars better than their spokesman does. Raser Technologies is an energy company, not a vehicle manufacturer.

=================

What Raser did do was build a plug-in hybrid based on an H-3, probably using Volt technology and not Prius/Insight/Ford Fusion technology (although no description is given).

The trouble with plug-in hybrids is that you can make any MPG claim you want for them from infinity down to less than the car's normal mileage, because that number will vary based on how long your trips are. If all you ever do is drive a charged-up plug in hybrid 2-3 miles at a time, you will never need gas. If you drive it all day and deplete the batteries, you're just driving around the same car with the added weight of the battery pack. If, like the Chey Volt, your car is a pure-hybrid, your mileage drops to whaterver the engine uses to charge the batteries.

The Volt's EPA mileage rating has yet to be determined, but it will either be 48 mpg if keeping the batteries fully charged using the engine only is considered, or a little over 100 mpg if it's only made to go through the same unmodified tests as other cars (because for all but 15% of that time it runs on battery only, and the recharge energy isn't counted in the test). (See http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/09/06/...8mpg-or-100mpg/ ) The 100 mpg figure Rasor is using was surely just co-opted from the Volt's least intensive testing.

Whatever the content of this vehicle, you can bet under real world conditions the Volt will be a lot more fuel efficient than this modified H-3. Hopefully there will be something like this on the market soon for those who need it's capabilities. But for most people, a simple car like the Volt will make much more sense (economically and otherwise).