No, it’s no joke, and no, I’m not kidding, someone is really making a Hummer Hybrid. And seriously, my first thought was, “I bet Schwarzenegger just LOVES this.” See, the Governator has a penchant for big SUVs, but he’s also more than a little bit green. For example, he has FOUR Mercedes G-wagens, but he’s converted them to run on bio-D. So when a hybrid Hummer started popping up on the web, my first thought was that Ahnuld would buy one. My second thought was a bit more bloody-minded. More along the lines of, “Great, tell the American public we can have our cake and eat it too, and we’re well on the road to ending up like the people on Wall-E.”
So what gives? Are they serious about this, or is it just some shade tree project.
No, they’re serious. This is no BS EV conversion of a clapped out 914 that some dude did in the back shed. Check out the video:
See? They’re serious.
Anyway, the Hummer hybrid has been called a “Chevy Volt on Steroids”, and I’m not really going to argue with that moniker. It’s not one of the big Hummers, it’s a retrofit into an H3, which I think is a Hummer-esque body on a GM Envoy platform, so this isn’t totally over the top. The H3 hybrid runs on a Raser electrical engine that gets the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon, which is about twice the efficiency of a Toyota Prius in the city. The all up range is around 400 miles, and the green Hummer will run for about 40 miles on electricity alone. The electric Hummer (which sounds like something you’d pay extra for in Vegas, doesn’t it?) is also quicker than you’d expect, accelerating from 0 to 60 in 8.5 seconds.
Look, I’ve got nothing against a car like this overall. The whole point, or at least the thing car manufacturers and gearheads should be focusing on, is making cars as eco-friendly as we can make them, and STILL have them be fun to drive. No, a Hummer is not a car that I’d ever see needing. And no, I think that 9 out of 10 SUVs out there are bought and used by people for all the wrong reasons. But that said, if (and that’s a big if) you need something like a Hummer H3, then why not use one that’s as mellow on the planet as we can make it?
Source: GeeksAreSexy.net
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