Earlier this week, I posted a video featuring an SUV, the T-98 Kombat, as made by Russian manufacturer Dartz (whose $1.5M Dartz Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition extravagantly decked out in whale penis leather--how high-brow is that--even got lip service recently on "The Colbert Report"). Anyhoo, this particular blog (located here for your convenience) garnered the snide comment of "It looks like a Hummer...big deal." Well, funny that you should say that, sir, as today's video features the Dartz Kombat one-on-one against the Hummer H1. Let's get ready to rumble!
The Dartz T-98 has been noted as one of the fastest multiterrain armored vehicles in the world, boasting an 8.1-liter engine and made with parts courtesy of General Motors. The Hummer H1 is often considered to be the most desirable of the Humvee makes, being the first of the now famous line introduced by AM General and also valued for its (relatively) efficient gas mileage. Coincidentally, the Hummer brand is also associated with GM, which had to part with the line as part of its bankruptcy settlement. So how much do they have in common versus how much they don't have in common? Well, I'll let you be the judge, as this video puts both vehicle types to the test in various environments including highways, sand dunes, forests, and snow. Enjoy. Or not. It's no big deal, right?
A Humvee made by American General.
(Credit: AM General)Lithium-ion battery manufacturer EnerDel has signed an 18-month, $1.29 million contract with the U.S. Army to design and test hybrid battery options for the Humvee.
Trying to power the iconic fuel-guzzling High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV aka Humvee) with a battery, may seem like trying to put out a fire with a garden hose. But a lithium-ion battery system can deliver a lot of power from a battery quickly, giving a truck like the Humvee the thrust it requires.
EnerDel, a subsidiary of Ener1, will collaborate with the U.S. Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC) on four possible power systems that could be implemented in the XM1124 version of the Humvee.
The company, which specializes in battery cell chemistry as well as the electronics and battery system designs, said it already has two viable options. EnerDel has developed a lithium-tatinate system in conjunction with Argonne National Laboratory that could accommodate the acceleration and hard braking required for such a powerful vehicle like the Humvee. It also has a lithium-manganese system that would give a vehicle extra-long range and allow electronics to be run off the battery for extended periods of time before needing to be recharged.
As part of the 18-month contract, EnerDel will also be involved in testing the systems under "extreme performance simulations." In addition to putting the test vehicles through the usual Humvee paces of wading through water and mountain climbing, there will also be an endurance test.
That will include seeing how a hybrid Humvee fares as a power plant for a field hospital or temporary military post. The requirement makes perfect sense given the ease with which a Humvee can be transported to hard-to-reach areas. One of its key features has always been that it could be dropped in to virtually any terrain by parachute.
A Humvee being parachuted out of a plane.
(Credit: AM General)The hybrid Humvee will also be more stealthy. Anyone who's had a close call with a Prius knows how dangerously silent hybrids can be in total battery mode. The hybrid version of the Humvee will have a powered-down "silent watch" mode that will allow it to run with its diesel generator off, reducing not only its noise, but also its thermal signature to avoid detection.
As always with major military project announcements, the company involved was quick to point out the down-the-road commercial application of its technology.
"In keeping with a long tradition, we also expect that innovations perfected here will have important benefits for the commercial markets," EnerDel President Rick Stanley said in a a statement.
There has already been interest in Raser Technologies' H3E, a plug-in hybrid version of a Hummer-branded SUV called the H3. While not truly a Hummer (the civilian version of the Humvee), the "Hummer-light" descendant has garnered the interest of even the most discerning Hummer enthusiasts.
So if EnerDel's batteries might be good enough to power a Hummvee, why haven't commercial automakers been knocking? They have actually. The company has signed research partnerships of varying commitment levels with Think Global, Fisker Automotive, Volvo, and Nissan. Its parent company, Ener1, is also working with U.S. utilities to develop smart grid storage units.
Amid recent developments of General Motors' chapter 11 bankruptcy and its decision to sell the all-mighty Hummer brand to a Chinese company, there's a silver lining. And it's a big one.
The U.S. Army wanted to make it crystal clear Thursday that the HMMWV (widely known as "Humvee")--the original High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle that inspired the creation of the Hummer--will continue to be made in the United States, by an American-owned company.
According to Lt. Col. Martin Downie, the U.S. Army's spokesman, though the Army's Humvee and the civilian Hummer look similar and share a common appearance, the rights to produce those two different vehicles are no longer owned by the same company.
The manufacturer of the Humvee has always been AM General, an American company based in South Bend, Ind. The company produced the first 55,000 Humvees for the Army in 1985 and it continues today to produce the Humvee for the military.
In the early 1990s, AM General began producing a civilian version of the Humvee, calling it a "Hummer." By the late 1990s, AM General sold the Hummer name to General Motors.
It's important to note that if the deal goes through, Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company, the Chinese-based prospective buyer of the Hummer brand, will not have access to the military's Humvee, including its designs, unique performance capabilities, and technologies.
Nonetheless, there's one thing Sichuan Tengzhong for sure will gain access to and possibly take advantage of: the vehicle's capability to use a lot of gasoline in a short distance.
Douglas Adams, a Purdue associate professor of mechanical engineering, and graduate student Tiffany DiPetta are working to develop a technology that detects damage to critical suspension components in military vehicles simply by driving over a speed bump with "diagnostic cleat" containing sensors.
(Credit: Purdue News Service)A team of researchers from Purdue University's Center for Systems Integrity created a high-tech "speed bump" that can detect damage to Army vehicles.
Unlike the speed-deterring cement humps in the road that drivers typically encounter, Purdue's invention is a rubber-jacketed "diagnostic cleat" that contains sensors. The sensors measure vibrations created by a vehicle as it moves over the cleat, and signal-processing software interprets the data to check for damage to the tires, wheel bearings, and suspension components.
Researchers conducted tests with high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles, or HMMWVs, commonly known as Humvees and found the system was able to detect damage to a vehicle's tires and the suspension with accuracy.
"The system was sensitive to as little as a 5 percent change in the stiffness of the suspension," said Douglas Adams, associate professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Center for Systems Integrity, in a press release.
The diagnostic speed bump can be used to reduce operating and maintenance costs for the Army, which accounted for about 60 percent of the $500 billion U.S. Department of Defense budget in 2006.
The system can also be applied to commercial and passenger vehicles.
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