The world’s first plug-in Hummer H3 is a major game-changer. This demonstration vehicle, produced by Raser Technologies, is intended to show the world that big, beefy cars do not always have to be gas-guzzlers.

The plug-in H3 was on display at last month’s Plug-In 2010 conference in San Jose, CA. The new and improved H3 runs solely on electricity for the first 40 miles. After that, a fuel-efficient gasoline generator kicks in for trips longer than 40 miles. This makes the H3 an E-REV, or an “extended range electric vehicle,” similar to the platform of the Chevy Volt.

I spoke with David West, Raser’s Vice-President of Marketing, to find out how this vehicle works. “To make our trucks green, we don’t propel the vehicle any longer with gasoline. We replace it with a custom electric motor and battery pack. The motor has to be powerful enough to propel the car, yet small enough to be able to fit in the available space. We take out the old gas engine and put in a small EcoTech 4-cylinder engine from GM. This combustion engine provides auxiliary power to the vehicle when needed,” West told me.

Raser Technologies decided to focus on converting large trucks because they are the number one selling vehicles in America and are most commonly used by fleets. They plan to deliver EREV pick-up trucks to fleet buyers first, while developing similar products to consumers within the next few years.

While taking a test drive in the vehicle, I asked David, “You must get all kinds of interesting looks from people on the street, don’t you?” He replied, “Yeah, I get some people who drive past us on the street all the time and tell us ‘We don’t believe you!’”

Believe it or not, this car shows that even massive cars like the Hummer can benefit from electric drive technology. As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says, “The Hummer is not what is wrong…it is the engine, it is the technology, so what we have to change is not the car and the size of the cars, what we have to change is the technology.”

Dr. Shannon Arvizu loves driving clean, green machines. You can find out more at MissElectric.com.