by Brian Byrne. Forget your clean 'n' green Prius, the US Army's way to go in the future will be in something like this, a diesel-electric hybrid Humvee.
Shown during the recent Society of Automotive Engineer's 2005 World Congress, this was a hybrid chassis developed by the US Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) which could be used with various bodies to replace different armored vehicles or pickup trucks currently used.
With a small three-cylinder diesel engine and two hybrid motors as motive power, the vehicle to replace the GM Humvee would cost about $20,000 to make, less than a third of the cost of a current Humvee and getting about 50mpg compared to the Humvee's current 11mpg.
The army wants to develop such vehicles both for cost reasons and to reduce maintenance.
