Eco Jeep? | Green Energy News

October 24, 2004 – Vol.9 No.31

ECO-JEEP?

The U.S. Army’s 5200 pound, 13 mile per gallon diesel-fueled High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) since its deployment in 1985 has evolved into two of the most environmentally menacing, energy insecure vehicles on the road - the Hummers H1 and H2.

The H2, came about as a market segment gimmick to attract more buyers to the Hummer line. The H2 has none of the really tough off-road mechanicals of the original H1. It looks mean, but it’s really cushy and fairly useless as vehicles go. Its fuel economy is a miserable 12 miles per gallon in city driving.

Still if the U.S. military can be the birthplace of environmentally frightening vehicles why can’t the military give birth to environmentally friendly ones? It’s in the best interest of the military to deploy fuel-efficient vehicles. The less fuel it has to lug around the more mobile it can become.

Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies has delivered what could be an eco-jeep to the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center’s National Automotive Center (TARDEC NAC).

Known as the Aggressor, the Quantum AMV(tm) (Alternative Mobility Vehicle) sports a 10-kilowatt fuel cell operating on compressed hydrogen running in parallel with a energy storage module (a battery pack). An electric motor drives the hybrid’s the rear wheels.

Of course there are no emissions and the Aggressor can be dead quiet operating in Stealth mode, good for sneaking up behind unwitting insurgents.

Export power is also available. The fuel cell can act as a standalone generator to provide power needed for emergency operations.

Aggressor is speedy too. Late-night desert drag races are possible with quick standing starts and speeds up to 85 miles per hour.

For now Aggressor is a concept vehicle. But who knows? It could become the first sane, responsible and patriotic member of the Hummer family. Visit Quantum at http://www.qtww.com/ .