Here is the best use of a Hummer that I have ever seen. If you haven’t already guessed, we here at The Greener Truth have a real problem with giant SUVs, and the Hummer symbolizes that category of wastefulness. We were going to call the WAVE scale the Hummer Bummer scale, but thought that would be a little unfair since they are already out of business. Instead, we rated vehicles against the worst vehicle for the planet that is still in production. That prize is held by the Mercedes SL 65 AMG. This may seem strange since this is a sporty roadster, but because of all the power under the hood and the fact that it can only cary 2 people makes it quite a waste at an average of 14 MPG. However, the H2 Hummer blows it out of the water with a staggering 115.9 on the Weight Adjusted Vehicle Equivalency scale (the WAVE scale currently only goes to 100).
But here is a fantastic use for this behemoth. Jeremy Dean has converted a Hummer H2 into a horse drawn carriage. Both to highlight the instability and waste in the auto industry and to show that there are alternate ways of transportation to the gas guzzlers that we drive today.
So next time that you are shopping for a car, think about not only the gas mialage, but also the weight of the car, because the heavier that a car is, the worse it is for the environment. While this is not a readily apparent consequence, you have to remember that the heavier the car, the harder it is to drive and therefore requires more breaking and acceleration. So, while the gas milage may be comparable in a test drive, the normal way of driving the car will lead to burning more fuel in a heavier car.
More information on Fuel Economy and the WAVE scale
-EPA
Thanks for this great find Aaron… I love the video. It made me wonder what the WAVE rating would be for an H2 with with 2 horsepower: It’s less then 1, the lowest score on the list. Of course the scale was not intended for horses but I’m hoping readers will really try and appreciate just how much power the 415 lbs of torque really is and how seriously ridiculous it is to make a vehicle this heavy accelerate like a sports car. The Hummer may be history, but it’s never too late to start thinking.