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Despite an infusion of federal funds, there are reports that General Motors (GM) – the nation's No. 1 and the world's No. 2 automaker is preparing to declare bankruptcy on June 1. GM was leader of the pack for 77 years until 2007 when Toyota surpassed it as the globe's top car seller.  Meantime, the company is fielding offers for its king gas-guzzler, the Hummer, which has attracted interested bidders despite its enviro-hostile rep and dismal sales.  

Detroit-based GM has received over $13 billion in government support since last year to keep it afloat despite slumping sales, in part due to the firm’s reliance on gas-eating sports utility vehicles and pickup trucks. These vehicles have fallen out of favor in the face of rising oil prices.

The Detroit News reports that GM is mulling declaring bankruptcy and reorganizing in a way that would enable it to retain its most promising Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac brands. That means the electric-gas hybrid Chevy Volt would continue its rollout, even though GM expects to lose money on the first generation of the high-tech vehicle, according to Automotive News.

As for the Hummer, it turns out that three undisclosed bidders have offered to take it off GM's hands for a cool $100 million to $200 million, Reuters reports.

In other Hummer news: a company called Raser Technologies has plans to turn a Hummer H3 from an environmental nightmare into a hybrid dream machine that would get about 100 miles (161 kilometers) per gallon of gas, according to David West, vice president of marketing for the Utah-based company. “We are resurrecting the Hummer as a green Hummer,” he says.

Raser Technologies is set to debut a prototype of its electric drive train technology built into an H3 at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress next week in Detroit. West says the drive train could be adapted for pickup trucks, such as the Ford’s F-series of trucks, the top-selling vehicle in the U.S. last year, as well as the Chevrolet Silverado and the Dodge Ram, the No. 2 and 3 best-selling trucks, respectively, in the U.S. – a few lone bright spots for otherwise-ailing GM and Chrysler.

Like the comparatively diminutive Volt, owners would plug in a modified truck to power up its lithium-ion batteries, West says, adding: “It’s like a Volt on steroids.”

A Hummer H3 retrofitted by Raser Technologies to run as a electric-gas hybrid. Image Credit: Raser Technologies

10 Comments

1. 1. frankShook 08:08 PM 4/13/09

   Raser's video shows the prototype spinning wheels at 90 MPH without load. They haven't explained how a plugin hybrid is more efficient than internal combustion given all of the losses of electric power generation, not to mention friction, weight and aerodynamic drag.
   
   For the moment, burning coal to heat water to drive a turbine that drives a generator that produces electricity that is transmitted over long distances is considered cheaper than burning fossil fuels in an internal combustion engine.
   
   Electricity prices will rise with demand.

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2. 2. proadventurer 10:49 PM 4/13/09

   Yea, but people "think" plug-in autos are the way to go because of the huge and invisible distance between burning coal and plugging something into the wall.

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3. 3. dyno1830 02:11 AM 4/14/09

   agreed, just because there isn't as much gasoline being burned in the vehicle doesn't necessarily make it more "green". how do people think the electricity is being produced for these electric powered cars? for most cases the electricity is being produced by coal powered power plants, unless there is a significant surplus of water nearby, such as a river or lake with a dam. as far as i'm concerned, and i remind you this is my opinion, the only real solution to environmentally unfriendly vehicles is to use alternative fuels, such as ethanol. yes, i know ethanol requires a lot of energy and water in the production process, but it is still more environmentally friendly than using fossil fuels or electricity coming from coal powered plants. most ethanol plants use waste products such as lignin to burn for energy. lignin and these other waste products are renewable unlike fossil fuels. until there is a better alternative released or invented i think it will do us all, the globe, best to focus on ethanol! i have done much research on ethanol from a whole to specifically wood based or lignocellulosic feedstocks and this seems to be the only feasible alternative for now.

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4. 4. JamesDavis 07:46 AM 4/14/09

   We can only pray that all three of these idiot auto manufacturers go under and people who think with their head up their sandbox with them. The auto manufacturers would not be in this trouble if they started mass producing electric cars thirty years ago during the last oil crisis. These electric cars can actually produce their own electricity while you drive them. Just because you do not know how it's done does not mean it cannot be done or it will not work. Telsa Motors in California is producing an electric car that can get 300 miles between charges and can be charged in 45 minutes from any home outlet. With just a couple of little tweaks from a little generator, the kind you use to put on your bicycle to run your headlight, this car can double or triple its distance. I think it is very smart for GM to try to save the Hummer by switching it over to electricity. By doing that, they just may save themselves.

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5. 5. modepaul 01:05 PM 4/14/09

   dyno1830: Part of the idea behind an electric car is that electricity does not have to be generated by burning coal, it can be sustainable. Such is not the case with petrol. We should look forward to a day when we can drive electric cars powered by clean energy produced by sun, wind, and water. All things considered, any alternative fuel source will have its disadvantages, even biofuels such as ethanol. Burning biofuels does not solve the problem of emissions, in fact widespread use would dramatically increase the level of ozone in the atmosphere. You are correct in saying that ethanol requires a LOT of resources to produce, some (such as ecologist David Pimentel) argue that from seed to production, ethanol would require more energy than it could generate. Some also argue that it is unwise to use one of America's top cash crops to power cars when there is hunger and famine occurring throughout the world. While a nation of electric cars being powered by clean energy is not right around the corner, I think it is one of the best goals to strive for right now. I admire Tesla Motors for setting a new standard for the electric consumer vehicle market.

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6. 6. wfitz1964 01:22 PM 4/14/09

   Also a electric drive tairn is ideal for "stop & go " driving. while stopped in traciifc there is nothing being burned as in a internal combustion engine thus it increase overal economey. It is ironic that such a big titain of a vehicial is guzzlking gas and producing emissions while stopped. A electric vehicial does not. Also for those who are realy into power & performance a electric vehical is the way to go . You get intanious current going to the wheels . While a internail combustiong engine has losses in heat friction and wheel slippage. Electricity can come from green sources so in time a electric vehical is a much better technology to pursure.
   Did I also mention that stop and go driving the energy can be recaptured and thus levels out use of power thus increasing range and efficency.

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7. 7. rwilliston 12:02 PM 4/15/09

   JamesDavis at 07:46 AM on 04/14/09
   Ah, you seem to have developed a perpetual motion machine.
   Truthfully, I could go into laws of thermodynamics and all but suffice it to say you are wrong. You cannot increase, only decrease the range of a car by putting a generator on it and trying to charge the battery. You are taking energy from the battery to move the car, the generator will increase the load so it's not like you've gotten something for free and thus the energy it feeds back into the battery will be less than if the generator were not there at all. There is always energy lost in any conversion so you can only at best hope to break even.
   The "free" energy with a hybrid or electric has already been taken into account. Normal cars convert kinetic energy of motion into heating of the brake pads when you stop. Hybrids use regenerative braking which charges the battery, while only losing some of the energy as heat. But turning on regeneration all the time drains the battery faster and only recoups this with a lesser charge. Thermodynamics will always win and the "idiot car companies" at least all know this.
   

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8. 8. JamesDavis 06:45 AM 4/16/09

   rwilliston -- There is more than one way to skin a cat, or thermodynamics, and there is more than one law to physics. A moving car creates a considerable amount of wind and other forms of energy, and if that wind is properly channeled, you can create a tornado. Can you imagine how fast that would turn a small turbine placed at the foot of that tornado? You need to start thinking outside common science. Fringe science is a creative persons science...start being creative.

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9. 9. rwilliston 05:28 PM 4/16/09

   As a scientist, I have made a career out of being creative. Admittedly I don't work in aerodynamics and I willingly defer to comments made by those who have made it their profession. But I would encourage you to learn a bit about this area before supposing your suggestions are helpful.
   The "tornadoes" you describe is what is known as turbulence. Creating turbulence creates drag which means the vehicle becomes less efficient at moving through the atmosphere and consumes more energy. So yes, you can harvest the energy from some sort of mechanism on the surface of the car, but the energy harvested will ALWAYS be less than the energy lost by the increased vehicle drag, both from the turbulence and the increased wind resistance of the devices on the car. Simple science and no, just thinking that you can ignore it doesn't work.
   A more valuable train of thought is why Hummer? If you want to create a green vehicle, why start with a shape that is severely handicapped from an aerodynamic standpoint? The Prius is shaped like it is for a reason and a car shaped like this will have inherently better mileage and longer range, all else being equal.

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10. 10. Keith Tomilson 07:48 AM 4/27/09

    If I were running this company I would make agreements with GM , Chrysler , and Ford to produce gliders for my company and get dealers to carry them .
    When it was obvious that my factory could not keep up with demand I would have the factories produce the finished complete assembly and my company would take a fee for each vehicle produced the same as if they were made by my company . Supply and demand at no risk to either party .

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