GM Humming about their H2H Hummer

SUVs are notorious for the amount of gas they consume. Some of the worst rankings among all SUVs are with the latest Hummers. These Hummers get as low as 12 miles per gallon highway miles. Since gas prices are at the rates they are, some Hummer owners find themselves spending hundreds of dollars a week on gas alone. Even if a person can afford the monthly note on a Hummer, the gas prices will make have the vehicle nearly unaffordable.

With people becoming more and more concerned about the preservation of the earth’s natural resources, there has been a lot of criticism against the Hummer’s consumption of gas. Critics are not only upset about the gas usage of the Hummer; they are also worried about its emissions into the atmosphere. GM, manufacturer of the Hummer, along with several celebrity drivers of the SUV have been receiving a lot of flack about the Hummer’s effects on the environment. Among those criticized is Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor turned governor of California. At one point in time, his fleet contained seven Hummers, all of which were driven on a regular basis.

Since the governor was one of Hummer’s first customers, GM sought his help in introducing the H2H to the public. Of course, Arnold was very limited in the amount of publicity he could do because of his political position. However, he was able to couple the H2H with his campaign for building a hydrogen highway. This highway would go hand in hand with the introduction of the H2H.

The H2H Hummer is a hydrogen-fueled SUV based on the design of H2. No doubt, GM introduced the vehicle in response to the overwhelming amount of criticism the company had been receiving due to it gas-guzzling Hummer. GM wasn’t the only company being blasted for their misuse of natural resources. Other SUV manufacturers including Ford and DaimlerChrysler received similar criticism for their SUVs.

Even though GM has other hydrogen burning motors in its portfolio of products, it did not use any of these prototypes in the Hummer Hybrid. Instead, the company came up with a new design for the motor specifically for the purpose of using in its new hybrid vehicle.

Most hydrogen powered vehicles use hydrogen and oxygen to create chemical reaction to provide power for the motor. Such vehicles include the Mercedes A-Class. The Hummer Hybrid uses hydrogen in a similar way to standard vehicles. It burns the hydrogen like a car burns gas. To do this, the hydrogen must be injected into the cylinder combustion chambers inside the engine.

All is not perfect with the Hummer Hybrid. One of the major drawbacks to the vehicle is that it can only run for about 50 miles before it needs to be refueled again. This would not be such a huge problem if there were more hydrogen refueling stations in the areas where these cars are driven. This is the reason that GM sought to couple the H2H with Arnold’s hydrogen highway campaign. With more hydrogen refueling stations spread throughout the state of California, people would be able to drive the vehicles and refuel whenever necessary.

Another negative feature of the Hummer Hybrid is that it is not as powerful as its gas-fueled H2 counterpart. Because liquid nitrogen is injected into the combustion chamber the power produced is not great. While the regular H2 reaches a horsepower of 316, the hybrid, when run on hydrogen alone, only reaches 180 horsepower. Of course, if you are mostly concerned with driving a large SUV and saving the environment while doing so, the lack of horsepower won’t be such a huge deal.

As far as environmental safety goes, the Hummer Hybrid wins hands down. If GM was seeking to produce a vehicle that had no harmful emissions, they certainly found it in the Hummer Hybrid. The hydrogen-powered SUV emits nothing but water vapor.

There are several drawbacks to the Hummer Hybrid’s wide usage today. Because the vehicle cannot be driven for a long distance before it needs refilling, it makes it unreasonable to drive it for long distances. Add to it the fact that there are not enough refilling stations to meet the hydrogen needs for the vehicle and it becomes clear that it will be a few years before the Hummer Hybrid is as widely used as some other hybrids.