These Insane Hybrid Hummers Are Driving to the South Pole

They'll take on more than 1,000 miles of Antarctic wasteland with biofuel and batteries.

Zero South

These ludicrous Hummers are not Hot Wheels. They are two very really, very intense, hybrid electric vehicles. And soon, they will be making a trek across the frozen wastes of Antartica to reach the South Pole

Plug-In Hybrid Electric Polar Traverse Vehicle 1 (PHE PTV1) and PHE PTV2—blue and orange, respectively—began life as totally stock, gas-guzzling Hummers before they were heavily, heavily modified into the combo electric, biofuel-powered monstrosities you see above. 

Aside from the rad paint jobs and the insane tread wheels, each vehicle has some intense under-the-hood modifications including weather-proofing for operation at temperatures less than negative 60 degrees Fahrenheit, dual 200 horsepower electric motors mounted to the front differential pinion and rear differential, and two battery packs for a total of eight 96-volt Lithium SuperPolymer batteries. When one of these PTVs has its twin 30-gallon fuel tanks topped off with biofuel, it can travel hundreds of miles, and reach a top speed of 45 MPH. 

So, why? A few reasons. First and foremost, it's going to be a movie. The whole project—as well as the feature-length 3D (ugh) documentary it will generate—is called ZERO SOUTH, a reference to how the dynamic duo here will consume zero fossil fuel on their way to the southmost point on Earth. The fact that they used to be more traditional Hummers is an irony not at all lost on the minds behind the trek. 

Second, this Hummer-based journey to the South Pole will coincide (at least in part) with the 100th anniversary of Ernest Shackleton's attempt to reach the South Pole on the Endurance. A fun parallel! If you ignore the part about how that mission failed after the Endurance became trapped in the ice and had to be abandoned when it ultimately sunk into the icy depths on November 21fa, of915.

Hopefully the Hummer trek will go just slightly better, but the 1,200-mile journey is nothing to sneeze at even with tricked out rides on your side. Either way, the trip will be captured in detail the way no previous Antarctic journey really has. Shackleton could never have seen this coming. 

Source: ZERO SOUTH via Carstories

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