Raser Technologies develops 100MPG Hummer H3 just to spite Al Gore
By Laura June 
posted Apr 28th 2009 3:01PM
posted Apr 28th 2009 3:01PM
That's right: last week at SAE World Congress, Raser Technologies unveiled a prototype Hummer H3 that gets 100 miles to the gallon. Insane, right? We agree. Raser partnered up with FEV to turn the famously non-environmentally sound gas guzzler around. The prototype boasts an E-REV power train engine, and three lithium ion battery packs under the rear of the vehicle. The batteries provide enough juice for about 40 miles, when the range extender starts up, providing an additional 400 miles -- averaging about 100 MPG -- before it needs to be plugged in again. The company is looking to start up low volume production by 2011, though there is no word on possible pricing at this time. Hey -- who says electric cars have to be small, tasteful affairs? Fierce! One more shot after the break.
[Via Inhabitat, Autoblog Green]
[Via Inhabitat, Autoblog Green]
Agreed. The dummer is going down in history as a monetary sinkhole ... jettisoned by gm in a feverish move to actually manufacture vehicles that compete worldwide AND make money. All this is just hot air inflating questionable reporting. Typical engadget auto/military post.
I don't think that anything that uses batteries is the answer. What happens when those batteries no longer hold a charge in the coming years? Those don't recycle too nice.
Same with all the Prius's on the road. I think we need to pass on any technology that relies on something that is going to have to be thrown away such as batteries.
Lets move to fuel cell. Then I will trade in my V8 in my American SUV.
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You can't polish a turd.
Actually, you can...
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-polishing-a-turd.html
Yea, we've alll seen that Mythbusters episode. Gratz to you Craig for bringing it up(¡)
Still doesn't make the saying any less true.
Al Gore can suck my tailpipe.
UP to 100 mpg? Let the rest of us drive it and we'll tell you what WE got for mpg.
It's about time. I've always said that Hybrid won't REALLY take off until we get SUVs that do it well.
This technology from Raser seems to have promise. I would love to retrofit something like this (including a small gas, diesel, or CNG range extender) into my '78 LeSabre. I wonder if they'll consider selling their technology to individuals through retrofitters.
unfortunately, riding that car will still make you look like a total douchebag
The Story is not about the fact it is a HUMMER. It is the company Raser that made a system that can push a hummer for 40 miles without any gas usage. It would be nice to know the "efficiency" however it is still a pretty impressive system. Someone big will buy this little company very soon...
The over publicized benefits of all hybrid gas/electricity vehicles depend upon the ability to recharge those gasoline saving batteries. At the currently established 40-mile/recharge range, hybrid vehicles have limited use in urban settings and little to no use in a rural setting. And, so far, the general public and government neglects to address the fact that the daily recharging demanded by the electric batteries in hybrid and full-electric cars will shift the energy consumption target from the gasoline tank to the power companies who are already having a very tough time keeping up with the residential, commercial, and industrial growth rate. The government in fact has put such a strain on the environmental permitting process for power plants by increasing the controls required for air, radiative, water and waste emissions that it has become the slowest profit return industry in business. The 120-year plight of carraige manufacturing for human relocation purposes may have finally run it's course. The natural resources used in that time to manufacture literally billions of short-lived automobiles quickly ending up in piles of crushed junk is staggering; yet, the human race still clings on to the world's largest business and manufacturing industry like the apron strings of a 4-year old.
All our Earthly roots date back to the origin of our Sun. The only purely ready-state replenishable energy comes from the Sun in the form of light rays, even on cloudy days the radiation energy is all around us. Wind power is unsteady, high initial cost, and high maintenance cost. Geo-thermal energy is cumbersome to tap into and therefore not readily available for widespread usage. Tidal kinetic is limited and has an entire new set of drawbacks connected to it.
Utopia may just depend on each household, WalMart, and DuPont plant building their own solar array and energy management system. Then maybe we could use oil for specialty research or needs we haven't even considered yet instead of incinerating it in the billions of motor vehicles for a 1-time temporary non-replenishable power source.
Regretably, it's obvious the human race missed the mark in the venture to supply our energy needs.
And now for "the rest of the story…"
How do these guys at Raser come up with their 100 MPG? Simple, they claim that if you drive 60 miles per day that the first 40 is powered by electricity and the next 20 is provided by their 33 MPG onboard engine. Therefore, only 1/3 of the distance traveled was provided by gas at 33 MPG, so it's as though you got the equivalent of 3 times 33 MPG, which equals 100 MPG.
Now let's see what Raser isn't telling you. First, their 200KW electric motor costs MONEY to operate! How much, you ask? Easy. If you drive 40 miles on electric power -- half in the city and half on the freeway -- you will spend about 1 hour driving (20 miles @ 30 MPH = 40 minutes, plus 20 miles @ 60 MPH = 20 minutes). Raser's 200KW motor is rated at 100KW continuous, so 1 hour of driving will likely consume roughly 100KWH worth of electricity (100KW times 1 hour). The average cost of electricity in the U.S. is 11.5 cents/KWH; therefore 100KWH costs you $11.50, got it? That's eleven dollars and fifty cents to go forty miles!!! Luckily, you get to go the next 20 miles on good old gasoline @ roughly 33 MPG, which would consume 6/10ths of a gallon of gas if the gas engine powered the vehicle directly. Unfortunately, it first has to power a generator, which then charges batteries, which then powers the electric motor. Still, lets be generous and assume that this gas engine takes you 20 miles on 2/3 of a gallon of gas, which costs $1.67 (2/3 times $2.50).
So the grand total to travel 60 miles in Raser's shiny EREV (Extended Range Electric Vehicle) only cost you $13.17!!! Isn't that great? Of course, you would've only spent $5.00 if you could've driven all of that distance powered by their good gas-mileage IC engine. Or you could've paid $7.50 in any vehicle that averaged 20 MPG. However, where's the fun in that? Look, you're driving a high tech "EREV"... ooooh! One that cost you an extra $25K, and that added an extra 1,000 pounds of weight to the vehicle. Nice extras, huh?? BTW, did I forget to mention that their 200KW motor only provides 134HP in continuous mode? But wait you say, it gives 268HP at peak operation. Yes, that's about what the new Ford Taurus provides (except for the Ford Taurus SHO, which gives 350HP). So you'll be riding around in your new EREV Hummer in a reduced 134-268HP powertrain... can you say "put, put, put"?
Does anyone see anything wrong with this?? Now do you see why Raser omitted mentioning the cost of electricity and only focused on their fuzzy-math MPG gas equivalent calculation? In reality, at today's prices, their Hummer only got the equivalent of 11.4 MPG ($13.17 divided by $2.5/gallon = 5.27 gallons, and 60 miles/5.27 gallons = 11.4 MPG)!!!!!!!!
The fact is that electric vehicles have NOTHING to offer in solving America's transportation needs. They are not cost-efficient nor are they technologically superior. The demand for electricity in the U.S. is expected to grow by a taxing 25% over the next decade. Raser's Hummer draws 100KWH of electricity in order to travel it's first 40 miles, which is well over 3 times the power that your house draws in a complete day! Talk about an instant energy crisis! It's a good thing that battery technology is still limited and that they added an IC engine to extend the range, otherwise their Hummer would've used 150KWH of electricity, or more than 5 times the daily draw of an average home!!
This conveniently omitted information might explain why Raser has also entered the geothermal power market… they realize that switching to EV's would require well over a 300% + increase to America's annual electric power consumption.
My question is this, why couldn't Raser be upfront and honest with us about the true costs of Electric Vehicles? Afterall, consumers have shown that they are willing to pay more for efficient green power.
Could their hesitancy in telling us the whole story be due to the fact that EV's are neither cost-efficient nor green compared to standard IC engine technology?
I love all of these user comments. A couple of things: any and all Hummer models are very similar to all other SUVs. Ditch 'em all if they are so 'grotesque' and so thoroughly epitomize 'the wasteful nature' of the US market. Go H3 owners (a community of which I am a member).