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| 4/30 |
| 2005/9/10-13 [Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:39623 Activity:low |
9/10 People who drive Range Rovers, Excursions and Suburbans are
flipping this Hummer driver because Hummers are less environmentally
friendly: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3749377.stm
\_ what I found interesting is that government give out
tax credit up to $100k for vehicle over 6000 pounds. This
along with the proposed new fuel efficiency standard would
explain why there are so many ultra-big vehicle on the road.
\_ The tax credit is only if you use the vehicle for work and
now the credit is spread across 4 years, can't take it in
one chunk.
\_ For "work".
\_ Actually you could depreciate in one chunk, until that loop
hole was closed for large SUVs on 10/22/2004 by an
amendment by Don Nickles (R Oklahoma).
\_ I cashed in on that tax deal with an X5 (6008 lbs). Had they
allowed that deal to continue, I would have bought a Hummer
this year to piss off my friends.
\_ joke's on you
\_ Not really. I saved $30K on my taxes with the X5.
That'll cover, what, a hundred years of extra gas
That'll cover, what, thirty years of extra gas
money? The Hummer would have been worth $40K in
taxes for me.
\_ 30K ? How does that work?
\_ There was a special loophole that allowed you
to deduct vehicles over 6000 pounds as a
business expense, even if you used it to
commute.
\_ The math doesn't add up. Let's say the X5
cost $60K. To save $30K on taxes your
marginal rate would have to be 50%. The
highest bracket isn't that high.
\_ Base 2005 BMW X5, 4.8is AWD 4dr SUV (4.8L
8cyl 6A), MSRP $70,100, Invoice $63,970.
Also, though I haven't stated it
specifically, I live in CA, so you have to
add in my CA state tax. It actually works
out to be a bit more than $30k.
\_ Hybrid Hummer from seven years ago:
http://evworld.com/archives/conferences/evs14/humvee.html
350hp. 0-50mph in 7sec. 18mpg. Climbs 60% grade at 17mph and
fords 5ft of water (think New Orleans). It even has a stealth mode.
\_ An all electric tank with electric canon? Those would be
some batteries. |
| 4/30 |
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| news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3749377.stm Printable version Environment drives Hummer vs Hybrid row By Maggie Shiels In California Men's fashion designer and manufacturer Craig Fruchter "Black beauty": Craig Fruchter defends his Hummer sports vehicle The Hummer is regarded as the Goliath of vehicles but the 8600 lb king of the road is the car everyone loves to hate. Men's fashion designer and manufacturer Craig Fruchter stumped up around $54,000 for his "big black beauty" in December of 2002. He admits his Hu mmer H2 is drawing more heat than usual as he clocks 11-13 miles per gal lon on the freeways north of San Francisco. "I have people flipping me off all the time but because I'm from New York , I get my ya-yas out that way and I get to flip 'em back." Industry experts say a massive switch to smaller cars or Hybrids will onl y happen if petrol supply is disrupted or prices hit $5-a-gallon Craig says while friends back east are "very chill" about his luxury Humm er, which is based on the military Humvee workhorse, people in northern California aren't quite as tolerant. "Everybody here claims to be more environmentally aware but really they'r e more hypocritical because the people that give me trouble about the Hu mmer are driving Range Rovers, Excursions and Suburbans, which drive 15- 20 miles per gallon. "People like to get behind symbols and it's scary that they get behind ha ting Hummers." This symbol of road-hogging prowess, more than any other, certainly seems to bring out a visceral reaction. Slogans sprayed In one of the most extreme examples, a group called the Earth Liberation Front caused $1m worth of damage setting Hummers on fire at a California dealership late last year. The group also claimed responsibility for spray painting slogans such as "Fat, Lazy Americans" on sports utility vehicles at other dealerships in the state. Figures from trade magazine Automotive News seem to suggest soaring petro l prices could be affecting sales of these so-called gas-guzzlers. Environmental director Russell Long paid nearly $20,000 for his Prius Hybrid: Russell Long's car runs on electricity and petrol While sports utility vehicles (SUVs) remain the nation's top selling car, sales are sluggish with a disappointing 41% increase for the year. At the other end of the scale, the Hybrid is enjoying its moment in the s un. The profile of this dual petrol-electric powered car which boasts 40 -60 miles per gallon has been boosted by celebrity owners including Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Leonardo Di Caprio and Cameron Diaz. Driven by environmental concerns and the rise in the cost of petrol, Amer ican registrations for Hybrids rose over 25% to nearly 44,000 last year. California ranked number one with nearly 11,500 new hybrid drivers. Among them is environmental director Russell Long who lives in San Franci sco and paid nearly $20,000 for his Prius just three months ago. "I bought the car because I get terrific fuel mileage and as an environme ntalist, I want to do everything to break the nation's oil dependence," he told BBC News Online. More expensive While record petrol prices help fuel incentives to go Hybrid, the numbers don't add up. The director of the University of California's Energy Institute, Professo r Severin Borenstein claims: "It still costs two or three thousand dolla rs more to buy a Hybrid and if you do the calculations of how much you w ould save on gasoline over the life of a car it's unlikely you would eve r actually cover your costs." "If petrol was 10 cents a gallon I would still buy a Hybrid. Guys who drive Hummers need to understand tho se vehicles are symbolic of what is wrong with this country." Professor Severin Borenstein of the University of California's Energy Ins titute Professor Borenstein: Petrol prices not an issue for Hummer owners Professor Borenstein says for Hummer drivers, the cost of fuel at the pum p is most likely not a big deal. "Someone who has spent $50,000 to buy a Hummer, and in some cases more than that, probably isn't that sensitive to spending another $500-$1,000 a year on gasoline. "If they were, they probably wouldn't be buying the Hummer in the first p lace." Craig Fruchter says what counts more is the government's tax credit of up to $100,000 for vehicles weighing over 6000 lbs. "I looked at the vehicles at the time and there was about four or five th at fit the bill. There was the Range Rover at $75,000 and the Mercedes a t $75,000 and so at a base sticker of around $50,000 and being able to w rite it off mostly and use it for work I thought it (the Hummer) was a g ood deal." Hybrid sports vehicle The Hybrid tax credit isn't quite as lucrative, totaling $1,500 for this year and declining 25% a year until it's phased out. At the moment three Hybrids dominate the marketplace but still account fo r less than 1% of nearly 17 million vehicles sold in the US. Auto makers are planning to roll out more than a dozen Hybrids in the nex t year while the first Hybrid SUV, built by Ford, started a promotional tour through the country last week. Meanwhile industry experts say a massive switch to smaller cars or Hybrid s will only happen if petrol supply is disrupted or prices hit $5-a-gall on. |
| evworld.com/archives/conferences/evs14/humvee.html Representatives of the news media assembled on the grounds of Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida for a demonstration of a new hybrid-electric HMMWV (Humvee). In a steady drizzle, a standard diesel-powered "Hummer" rumbled into view and slowly approached the damp, but curious group of reporters. It quickly became apparent that something was amiss, this wasn't the vehicle the press had come to see. Instead, with their attention momentarily diverted, the real hybrid-electric Hummer silently crept up from behind to within inches of the crowd before the announcer asked the assembly to turn around to view what some are calling the Army's new "Corvette in Camouflage." You couldn't have asked for a more effective demonstration of the stealth capabilities of this one-of-a-kind prototype military vehicle. The result of a joint engineering effort by a consortium including the US Army's Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TAC), DARPA, the Southern Coalition for Advanced Transportation, Unique Mobility, PEI Electronics and others, the hybrid-electric HMMWV cost less than $2 million dollars in development costs, according to Daniel Tudor, senior program manager for PEI Electronics of Huntsville, Alabama. Corvette in Fatigues While the Hybrid-Hummer looks like the standard Humvee on the exterior, complete with olive-drab and flat black camouflage, underneath its workaday fatigues is a remarkable power plant capable to surprising acceleration and speeds up to 80 miles per hour, a good 10 miles faster than the standard issue HMMWV Its zero-to-fifty mph time is seven seconds, twice as fast as the stock model. It can climb a 60% grade at 17 mph, two and half times faster than stock. In addition, the vehicle gets twice the fuel economy at 18 mpg enabling it to carry a smaller fuel tank, while retaining the same 300 miles range. The vehicle can also ford streams up to a depth of five feet without swamping or stalling. The only trade-off of the current prototype design is a 540 pound loss of payload, presumably taken by the heavy lead/acid batteries. The hybrid version has a rated payload of 1700 pounds, while the stock version is 2,240 pounds. Small Humvee The heart of this new generation military vehicle is its hybrid-electric propulsion system consisting of four 55kW brushless DC electric motors (peaked rated to 75kW), one for each wheel and a 19 liter turbo-charged diesel engine-generator set capable of turning out 55kW of electric power. The diesel-generator can provide power either to the drive train or to the vehicle's 288 VDC advanced lead/acid battery pack. Rated at 350 hp in hybrid mode, the combination gives the Hybrid-Hummer its sports car like performance, as well as its stealth capabilities which is activated by throwing a switch on the console between the two front seats. Going stealth turns off the turbo-diesel and draws power from the 85 amp hour battery pack giving the Humvee a 20 mile range in silent mode (40 miles using NiMH batteries). This virtually eliminates the vehicle's infrared signature, making it nearly invisible to enemy night vision devices. Inside Humvee's Cabin Even with its turbo-diesel/generator running, the Hybrid-Hummer is amazingly quiet, both inside and out. EV World's editor in chief was able to video tape inside the vehicle during its last demonstration drive at the 14th Electric Vehicle Symposium and easily carried on a conversation with the driver. But for the crunch of the tires on the pavement, you can't hear this trooper coming. The noise you hear on the video is from an auxiliary generator powering lights at nearby exhibit tents. Another advantage of individual electric drive to each wheel is the Humvee can be made to turn like a tank, locking or reversing the wheels inside the turn, giving the vehicle an unmatched turning radius. The system also lends itself readily to robotic adaptation, letting the vehicle tackle missions too dangerous for manned operations, such as traversing a mine field. The Army is also working on other hybrid-electrical military vehicles including the M113 and the Bradley fighting vehicle as part of a $43 million development effort funded by DARPA. In addition to improved performance on the battlefield, hybrid-electrics can provide temporary electric power during natural disasters, such as emergency power to a hospital or crisis command center. A hint of where the Army sees this technology going came from a TAC representative who indicated that the Army was working on an all-electric replacement for the M1-A Abrams battle tank complete with an electric canon. Clearly, the battlefield of the future will not only find stealthy aircraft in the skies and stealthy ships at sea, but an equally silent and nearly invisible army on land. For The Latest News, Interviews and Previews of Electric Vehicles... |