As you shop around a GMC dealer in Buford for your next SUV or pickup truck, pause and give some thought to – get this – an all-electric GMC Hummer. The concept might sound crazy, given that Hummer is not exactly synonymous with efficiency. Remember back in the day how people used to joke about the Hummer H2 burning through fuel like nobody’s business? Those days are long gone, and GM is looking to the future with the all-new electrified Hummer EV.
The new Hummer EV is designed to bring pickup truck and SUV drivers over to the world of EVs, which can be easier said than done. The Hummer EV is just the vehicle to accomplish such a feat, since it’s a truck brimming with modern technology but without all the frills that automakers cram into smaller vehicles. After all, pickups are about getting the job done, and the Hummer EV does just that.
Before you shrug your shoulders and scratch your head wondering how GM is making the new Hummer EV work, let’s go over what makes this new electric vehicle so much fun to drive.
A Similar Setup as the Old Hummer
GM designed the Hummer EV along the same lines of the Hummers of old. Built on GM’s Ultium Platform, the Hummer EV is built to be a beast on and off of the beaten path. This vehicle can be ordered as either a pick-up or an SUV body style, so you can pick from whichever one best suits your tastes.
The Hummer EV looks a lot like the former H2, and its size is right on par with its predecessor. With the spare tire mounted on the rear, the Hummer EV pickup is 216.8 inches in length and 79.1 inches high. Its wheelbase length is 135.6 inches, and the pickup variant is 93.7 inches wide, including the mirrors. It has a curb weight of 9,063 pounds, with the battery weighing roughly as much as a Honda Civic.
An Imposing Exterior but Reserved Cabin
Keeping with expectations of how a Hummer should look, GM gives the EV an imposing exterior aesthetic. This vehicle is absolutely huge, and standing next to it can make a fully grown adult feel somewhat small. While this might otherwise make for an intimidating vehicle, the slim LED headlight structure and running boards make the Hummer EV feel rather inviting.
The Hummer EV’s cabin is downplayed compared to its exterior. A T-top design is optional and can be opened up with ease. It calls to mind the designs GM put on its muscle and sports cars in the 1970s and into the 1980s. The cabin features several elements that are inspired by the moon, right down Sea of Tranquility speaker grilles and a moon boot print smack dab on the dead pedal. This is a clever homage to the electric Apollo lunar rover that GM helped design for NASA.
Impressive Electric Power, Torque, and Range
The old Hummer H2’s gas-guzzling Vortec 6200 6.2L V8 engine is a thing of the past. The Hummer EV runs entirely on electricity. The powertrain consists of two or three electric motors that are known as the Ultium Drive permanent magnet motors. Together, these three motors make a whopping 1,000 horsepower on the Edition 1. On the EV3X, they generate 830 hp while, on the EV2 and EV2X, the two motors make a total of 625 hp.
Even more impressive is the Hummer EV’s torque. The basic two-motor arrangement generates a massive 7,400 lb-ft of torque. That’s no typo–that’s more than seven thousand pound-feet of torque! The three-motor version makes even more than that, an astounding 11,500 lb-ft. Best of all, the beauty of an electric motor is that all of this torque is available as soon as you press the gas pedal. You don’t have to wait for the power to build up with engine speed the way you do with internal combustion engines.
The 212 kWh battery pack is almost twice the size of anything else on the market right now, but since it has so much weight to lug around its efficiency might seem somewhat limited. Its 329 miles of electric range still puts it on par with the Ford F-150 Lightning, though that pickup weighs a lot less than the Hummer EV. Still, 329 miles is more range than a lot of gas and diesel trucks provide, let alone electric.
An Undeniably Capable Off-Roader
The Hummer EV is a strong and capable off-roading vehicle that leaves competitors in the dust, both literally and figuratively. With multiple off-road modes and an adjustable ride height, the Hummer EV can handle all kinds of rugged terrain. Mud, puddles, snow, and dips in the road surface are handled with ease. Given how heavy this vehicle is and the fact that it has standard all-wheel drive, it will not hydroplane across slippery surfaces and keeps ample traction.
Maneuverability Betrays Its Size
This monstrously sized EV handles much more gracefully than you might anticipate. It has no problem zooming from 0 to 60 miles per hour in a mere 3 seconds flat. The fact that a 9,000-pound vehicle can get to 60 mph faster than many sports cars is rather impressive, and a testament to its mind-boggling torque figures.
What’s more, the Hummer EV maneuvers around corners more easily than you might think. While it cannot be called a nimble and spritely vehicle, the Hummer EV has steering and handling capabilities that rival some smaller SUVs. The Hummer EV simply doesn’t feel like the large truck that it is.
The Hummer EV Can Crabwalk
One ultra-cool feature on the Hummer EV is that it can crabwalk. Crabwalk mode essentially lets you drive the Hummer EV sideways. This 4-Wheel Steer mode is unique to the Hummer EV and allows you more maneuverability while trying to park or as you go off-roading. It angles the rear wheels to echo the angle of the front wheels to enable you to drive diagonally.
The catch is that you can only engage Crabwalk when you have the vehicle going at extremely slow speeds. If you go over 25 mph for more than 10 seconds, Crabwalk will automatically disengage.
A Playful Manner
The Hummer EV is tuned for playfulness, believe it or not. If you turn off traction control, you can have a lot of fun testing this vehicle on an unpaved road. The Hummer EV delivers plenty of torque on the drop of a dime, and you can have a blast watching the dirt or gravel fly up behind you in the rearview mirror.
When the first Hummer EV was spotted in the wild by a resident in Warren, Michigan, where GM has a Technical Center, the Hummer EV’s playful nature was highlighted by a vanity plate hilariously reading “WTFMODE.” If that does not sum it all up for you, then nothing will.
Speaking of playfulness, fans of the video game Fortnite will be pleased to know that the game’s designers, Epic Games, designed the infotainment interface for the Hummer EV. Technology is a tour-de-force on this vehicle, and it is only fitting that GM got Epic Games to make the Hummer EV all the more, ahem, epic.
Bringing Pickup Drivers Into an Electric Future
The Hummer EV is GM’s way of bringing pickup drivers into an electrified future. Sure, some aspects of the Hummer EV might seem a touch impractical, but the Hummer as a commercial consumer vehicle has always been pretty impractical. That’s the Hummer’s appeal.
If there was ever a vehicle that could convince someone who doesn’t like EVs to test drive one, it would be the Hummer EV. With an immense capacity for off-roading and enjoyable driving performance, the all-new Hummer EV shows that electric vehicles can be mind-blowingly powerful and fun to drive.
