Plug In Hybrid Hummers Set To Take On Antarctica

A group of intrepid polar explorers who call themselves Zero South are preparing to make the first trip to the South Pole without burning one drop of fossil fuel says Green Car Reports. The group will use a pair of plug-in hybrid Hummers with 3.2 liter diesel engines for the 1200 mile journey. The engines will burn only bio-diesel on the way down and back. The Hummers also have an electric motor front and rear, and a 24 kWh battery pack that powers the motors and can be recharged by the diesel engines. The batteries are heavily insulated to protect them from the -60 degree Fahrenheit temperatures expected along the way.

Both Hummers have been fitted with treads from Mattracks to give them the sure footed grip they will need to traverse the frozen wastes of Antarctica. Their suspensions have been heavily reinforced to withstand the rigors of the trip across uncharted territory. One of the Hummers will also tow a modified Airstream trailer — dubbed the Snowstream — which will  provide shelter for the explorers along the way and while conducting their research at the South Pole.

The choice of the Hummer H1 as the basis for the expedition vehicles was not random. The Hummers’ wide stance will aid stability over uneven terrain. But there is a bit of “intentional irony”  as well.

The normal Hummer H1 has just about the largest carbon footprint of any wheeled vehicle on the planet except, perhaps, for your average Peterbilt. By converting the Hummers to run entirely on electricity and bio-diesel, the team is making a very deliberate statement about their respect for the environment. “We shall draft a symbol of military defense for the front lines of environmental defense,” expedition organizer Nick Baggarly has declared.

 Naturally in this world of the selfie and non-stop marketing, the Zero South team expects to videotape the entire adventure. A 10 part television series and a full length feature movie are planned, both based on those videos.

U.S. Army Considering Diesel-Electric Hummer Replacement - VIDEO

While some Republican lawmakers may not understand the need for weaning the military off of fossil fuels, generals and engineers get the volatile nature of this finite fuel. This has every branch of the military exploring ways to replace or conserve fuel whenever possible, and the U.S. Army is considering a “lightweight” hybrid truck to replace the Humvee in combat operations.

I put lightweight in quotations because, tipping the scales at a hefty 14,000 pounds, the Army’s Ultra Light Vehicle doesn’t sound so light. But compared to big bruisers like the MRAP, which weighs more than 58,000 pounds, the ULV is a downright featherweight. Developed by the U.S. Army Tank Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), the ULV also boasts a diesel-electric hybrid drivetrain that allows the ULV to better serve and protect its passengers.

The ULV can be run on EV power alone, allowing for “stealth” missions where a loud diesel engine could give away soldiers’ positions. With a pair of electric motors driving the rear wheels and the diesel engine powering the front, the ULV also eliminates the need for a driveshaft and transmission tunnel.

This flat-bottom design allows for a better explosive-resistant crushable floor, while high-strength steels and composite materials keep the curb weight comparatively light. The on-board battery pack and diesel engine can also combine to be used as a portable, armored generator. Similar ideas have been proposed for other military hybrids, including the SAFT hybrid APC. Each ULV would cost about $250,000, though so far just 3 prototypes have been built.

While fuel economy wasn’t mentioned, the Army considers anything getting more than 6 mpg downright frugal, and the ULV might even break into the double digits. With the military spending as much as $400 a gallon to get fuel to remote outposts, and needing to send constant convoys on dangerous resupply missions using even more fuel, it becomes a snake-eating-its-tail scenario.

But efforts by the researchers to employ more alternative-energy and fuel-saving projects in combat theaters should lead to a leaner, meaner, and more self-sufficient military. Eventually, much of that technology could filter down to the consumer level, much the same way GPS devices and drones have become more commonplace.

Source: TARDEC

Been dreaming of an electric Hummer? Here you go

Over the years, there have been attempts to green up one of the world's most iconic gas guzzlers, from thefanciful to the conceptual to the ER-EV. Now, a car customizer across the pond is epitomizing this ultimate dichotomy by building a battery-electric Hummer.

Prindiville, which so far has specialized in revamping vehicles from Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Porsche and, of course, Range Rover with carbon-fiber body parts, aerodynamic paneling, souped-up engines and other goodies, says its plug-in Hummers will be the UK's first customized EVs.

Granted, the "Hummer" in question appears to be a substantially shrunken version of the original, Ahnold-favored super SUV. Prindiville says the Hummer EV, which will first be made in a trial batch of 25 vehicles, will have a 60-mile single-charge range. And the car can be yours for about 25,000 British pounds, just under $40,000 U.S. at today's exchange rates. Plus, it's exempt from London's congestion charge. So you have that going for you.

Source: Autoblog Green

Introducing the Nation-E All-Electric HUMMER H1 'Angel Car'

Nation-E Hummer H1 Angel Car - EV







So you wanna look like Arnold Schwarznegger and hop in your Hummer while chomping a stogie yet still maintain your environmental sensitivity? Then have a look a look at what Nation-E has put together. Note: a 60 kWh battery pack is substantial and larger than the Tesla Roadster's, which will be extremely pricey but should also deliver 120 to 150 miles range.

Hummer has long been US love for the roaring beast has muscles that are always liked, rather loved even when even when the gas guzzling machine is environmental brute. However, now it goes green. Nation-E have unveiled their electric Hummer h1, dubbed the AngelH1 – a name which seems a compliment for its eco friendly credentials.

AngelH1 has specially been developed as an emission free rescue vehicle to assist the operations in case like earthquakes or tornadoes, electricity blackouts and other crisis events that may require electric power and can also to offer electricity to stranded vehicles, complete buildings, hospitals, construction sites and any other place.

Featuring 60 kWh battery pack, Nation-E AngelH1 electric Hummer H1 will be showcased at the E-Car-Tec exhibition in Munich, Germany, from 19 – 21 October 2010.

The 100 MPG Hummer Tackles Moab Off-Roading

It can be done. Cars can be built and designed to achieve mileages two and three times higher than what we see today. In fact, during the Clinton Administration's early years, the major US manufacturers all presented a sedan that could achieve 70 mpg or more. What happened to those cars? Why are we still driving around in vehicles that average only 25 mpg?

Here is a video of a Hummer that has been designed ala the Chevy Volt that gets 100 mpg. It can be done.

GMAC Needs More Bailout Funds Claims Fed

How do you feel about banks that receive free money so they can stay afloat? Usually, this forum focuses on alternate energy vehicle developments and technological advancements, but when we find out that GMAC is standing in line with their hands out, it tends to provoke our ire.

GMAC is notorious for their 0% interest loans and they use this marketing tool to entice consumers to purchase big gas hogs they could not otherwise afford. Vehicles like Tahoes and Yukons and Escalades and Hummers with bloated price tags and pathetic mileage ratings are scooping up the free money from GMAC that you and I ultimately get the tab for. Maddening.

From Automotive News:

GMAC Financial Services, which has received $12.5 billion in federal aid, is negotiating for a fresh infusion of taxpayer funds because it has not raised enough capital to survive a deepening recession, the Federal Reserve said.

The auto lender is the only one of 10 large banks ordered in May to raise capital that had not met its goal, the Fed said Monday.

"The one exception, GMAC, is expected to meet its remaining buffer need by accessing the TARP Automotive Industry Financing Program and is in discussions with the U.S. Treasury on the structure of its investment," the Fed said in a statement.

The U.S. Treasury and Fed ordered the banks to take stress tests last spring in a bid to reassure jittery investors that they would be able to withstand a deepening recession.

GMAC was ordered to raise $11.5 billion in the six months following the stress test results in early May, with a deadline of Monday. The firm quickly received a $7.5 billion federal capital injection and has sold U.S.-backed debt. The investment came on top of emergency government aid GMAC received in December to keep it out of bankruptcy.

GMAC has indicated it will need less funds than were expected at the time of the tests in May, the U.S. Treasury said Monday. Department officials have said they knew it was likely the government would need to contribute more capital to GMAC because as a privately held firm, it had little ability to sell shares.

GMAC's owners include General Motors Co. and private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. Among other lending, it provides financing to buyers of vehicles made by GM and Chrysler Group -- two automakers partially owned by the government after their federally sponsored bankruptcies earlier this year.

Worse than ‘adverse’?

Regulators had told the banks to increase capital based on projected losses under various economic scenarios, including one labeled "adverse" that envisioned a 10.3 percent unemployment rate next year.

But joblessness may already be exceeding that level. On Friday, Labor Department data revealed a 10.2 percent unemployment rate for October, and the White House said it would likely rise further before the jobs picture improves.

Nonetheless, the Fed said the stress tests were designed to ensure that the banks would stay sufficiently capitalized through 2010 and continue lending to creditworthy borrowers. The tests calmed investors enough to draw new investment into banks and sparked a stock market rally over the summer months.

The Fed's announcement that GMAC was still negotiating for government capital comes four days after Treasury assistant secretary Herbert Allison said the Treasury Department needed more deliberation over the structure of the investment and it might be delayed past the Monday deadline.

GM Reaches a Deal To Sell Its Hummer Brand

The Infamous Gas Guzzling Hummer







GM announced Tuesday that it has a Memorandum of Understanding to sell its Hummer brand, although it would not disclose the name of the buyer nor the price. The deal is expected to close by the third quarter of this year.

Under the proposed deal, Hummer will continue to contract vehicle manufacturing and business services from GM during a defined transitional time period.

The automaker has been reviewing options for the past year for the gas-guzzling brand.

GM sold about 27,485 Hummers in the United States in 2008, down 51 percent from a year earlier. Hummer SUVs starts at roughly $31,000 and go up to nearly $72,000 with options.

There were reportedly three bidders for the gas guzzling lineup of SUV's. One from the US and two from overseas. GM's sale of the Hummer brand is long overdue and many point to the acquisition of Hummer as one of the many business errors leading up to their bankruptcy filing on Monday.

Pontiac and GMC May Bite the Dust as GM Continues to Streamline

What a shock it would be if GMC suddenly ceased to exist. The demise of Pontiac would not be as surprising as GM has already stated it would strip the brand down to specialty vehicles. It would be hard to imagine General Motors without GMC trucks though.

From Automotive News:

Facing a June 1 deadline to restructure under U.S. government oversight, General Motors may drop its Pontiac and GMC brands as part of broader cost-cutting moves, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The two brands are being studied as part of talks with an Obama administration task force assessing whether GM can be restructured without bankruptcy, sources told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

GM's Chevrolet, Cadillac and Buick brands are likely to be safe, the news agency reported.

GM had said earlier it would keep Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, GMC and Pontiac while selling or closing Hummer, Saab and Saturn.

An investor group including private equity firm Black Oak Partners has approached GM about buying its Saturn brand assets and dealership network, both sides said on Wednesday.

GM's Hummer brand has received interest from three bidders, none of them automakers, sources told Reuters on April 8.

The current offers for Hummer range from $100-$200 million, the sources said. GM has taken $13.4 billion of U.S. government loans since the beginning of the year.

A decision is yet to be reached on what would happen to Pontiac or GMC should GM opt not to keep them, Bloomberg reported, citing unidentified sources.

The GMC brand has a better chance of surviving than Pontiac, one of the sources told the agency.

A GM spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the report.

GM Posts a Staggering Loss of $9.6 Billion in the 4th Quarter of 2008.

GM World Headquarters





General Motors burned through $6.2 billion in cash during the fourth quarter in posting this massive loss and is even now in talks with the Obama administration requesting more money.

The nation's biggest domestic automaker lost $30.9 billion for all of 2008 as it struggled against a U.S. sales slump and a global recession.

For the fourth quarter, GM says it lost $15.71 per share, compared with a loss of $722 million, or $1.28 per share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding special items, The Detroit company's loss was $9.65 per share. On that basis, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted a loss of $7.40 per share.

Since December, GM has received $13.4 billion in US Government loans and is now asking for an additional $30 billion. One has to wonder if they even have a chance of recovering sufficiently to ever repay the loans. Auto sales are still down for 2009 with no relief in sight and GM has no real plan for a comeback, in my opinion. Will anyone step up and buy the Hummer brand or will Saturn be able to spin itself off from the parent? What is GM going to do short-term to staunch the flow of cash? Another quarter like this past one would have them on life support.