David Booth: I’ve been trying to figure out what GMC Hummer EV is supposed to be. As in what is its purpose, who are to be its customers and what does GMC — formerly the General Motors Truck Company — hope to accomplish with it?
Is it simply another American ode to glorious excess, albeit writ electric? Lord knows, The General knows all about those, from 1930s Cadillacs with 16 pistons to modern Silverado Crew Cabs that stretch 6,139-millimetres stem-to-stern. Throw in Suburbans and Yukon XLs and General Motors has produced pretty much every species of humungous four-wheeler including what is, of course, the spiritual predecessor of this fantastic beast, AM General’s Humvee.
If that’s not it, maybe it’s some sort of hillbilly halo vehicle? I mean the Goodyear Wrangler LT305/70R18s on my triple-motor sport utility version certainly looked ready for Copperhead Road. And with 830 horsepower underhood — down from the even 1,000-hp the tri-motor truck version boasts — it’ll surely outrun revenuers. And OMG, the inside is a mass of bright lights and swaddling leather, both sure to elicit much commotion from the attention-deficit-disordered backwoods baron. And with the MSRP for my 3X SUV starting at $144,098 and numerous upgrades taking it to $182,588, the owner surely would advertise himself as a successful ‘shiner.
Or could it be trying to provide some other sort of halo? Advertising the might of GM’s new EV batteries, perhaps? After all, Hummer SUV does sport 170 usable kilowatt-hours of the Ultium stuff which would be the most lithium ever stuffed into an electric vehicle were it not for the fact that the truck version of the same Hummer sports 212 kWh of battery cells. Combine sheer mass (even the lighter SUV version weighs 3,928 kilograms) and stupid power (the aforementioned 830 hp) with a Launch mode called WTF (no, it’s not what you think) and you have the most technologically advanced truck GM has ever produced.
So Andrew, I am more than a little confused. Have you got an answer for the all-important why?
Andrew McCredie: Well, David, when I first drove the GMC Hummer EV 1 pickup truck at the global launch in the Sonoran Desert I came away with the same question: Just what is this thing? After driving it for a week’s road test here in Vancouver, I’m now convinced it is indeed a halo vehicle built to showcase General Motor’s EV technology.
If so, mission accomplished. From the massive battery pack to the WTF mode — that’s Watts To Freedom, by the way — and from the all-wheel steering to the spectacular Bose sound system, the Hummer EV is a rolling testament to what GM engineers and designers can pull off if the guard rails are removed. Like the Ford Lightning, which looks and has the same road presence as the gas-powered F-150, the all-electric Hummer pays respectful homage to its ICE forebearer. Personally, I really like the design of the Hummer EV. It’s brash and brawny but not in a bulky sort of way, which certainly could have been the result of this clean-sheet design.
And as you alluded to, the cabin is as palatial as it is spacious, that flat-floor architecture creating huge leg room in the second row and the high roofline provides NBA-big-man headroom. Speaking of that roof, there are four separate panels that can be taken out, allowing you to customize the open roof in a number of ways. I also love the pistol-grip shifter, something not often found in an EV, and storage space in the cabin is plentiful. The frunk, too, is massive.
DB: The only thing I really care about — because I am essentially an engineer, albeit a wordy one — is how far it can go on its 170 kWh. For just a little perspective, that’s almost exactly four times the kilowatt-hour capacity of the Fiat 500e I tested last week. It is – at least in the 212-kWh truck version — so much lithium ion that just the battery weighs more than a Toyota Corolla. Even on this, the baby brother, the 20 modules of Ultium lithium weigh more than the Honda Civic I drove through college. So, how far does 170 kWh — which is, to beat a dead horse, the second-largest battery in EV-dom — get you on the open road?
Well, on our familiar Range Finder test — a cruise-controlled 125 kilometres an hour up and down Ontario’s Highway 407 — my Hummer EV eked out 340 kilometres. For a little perspective, that’s identical to what I scraped out of a Hyundai Ioniq 6 which has but a 77.8-kWh battery. Depending on whether you want to reference the Hummer’s advantage in absolute numbers or as a percentage, that means the aerodynamic Hyundai got the same mileage from 92.2 fewer kilowatt-hours or with a 55% smaller battery. Either way, the comparison is a fairly dramatic exhibit of the value of light weight and slippery shapes. As for other comparisons, BMW’s iX M60 roamed to 412 kilometres on a comparatively small 105-kWh despite being neither small or particularly aerodynamic. And the monumentally efficient — but, again, by no means small — Lucid Air RWD managed almost 500 kilometres with just 88-kWh in its floorpan.
But perhaps the most expressive measure of the Hummer’s blocky shape and avoirdupois is this: those 340 klicks from 170 kWh works out to 50 kWh/100 kilometres. The last time I drove anything that consumed any substance at the rate of 50 per 100 klicks, it was Lamborghini’s V12-powered LM001 — the famed Lambo Rambo — sucking 50 litres of high-test every 100 klicks through its six dual-throat Webers. Now, I know the two numbers are not directly comparable, but it is a measure of how much it takes to push around the Hummer when you’re comparing it to what is probably the biggest gas guzzler of all time. And, guess what? That profligate Lambo too was a big, heavy, square-shouldered sport brute that was the lardiest SUV of its day. This Hummer may not suck back fossil fuels, but my Lord it has an appetite.
AM: Yes, the GMC Hummer EV gobbles up kilowatts at a remarkable rate, which should be expected given its weight and bluntish front end, which doesn’t translate into a very slippery design. Both those factors obviously played into your Range Finder findings, and a highway speed of 125 km/h is certainly not conducive to great efficiency from a Hummer, electrified or no. In that first drive of the Hummer EV I did in Arizona, we spent about four hours putting the pickup through its paces in a sandy off-road setting, which ate up 50 kilometres of battery range. In that user case, you’re getting pretty good bang for your kilowatt buck. And that all-wheel steering really came to the fore in some of the tighter spots on the off-road circuit, giving a ‘fork-lift’ like feel when slowly negotiating around rocks and other obstacles. But there is no denying that efficiency is not the Hummer EV’s strong suit or its raison d’être.
DB: EVKX.net, which has measured charging performance for pretty much every electric vehicle produced for North America, reckons that the 170-kWh Hummer peaks at a 345 kilowatts and averages no less than 181 kW when charging from 10% to 80% SoC. That 70% recharge would take 44 minutes and gain you 240 kilometres if you could replicate EVKX‘s testing results. That’s not especially horrible, though if you were on a very long, multi-stop road trip, you’d essentially have to stop for 45 minutes every two hours. According to EVKX, however, optimum charging stops right at the 65% mark, which takes 23 minutes to reach. After that, the charging rate drops precipitously. That would mean, if you were looking for minimum time spent charging on a long trip, you’d drive only 1.5 hours at a time, but you’d cut your charging downtime by half.
Of course, that supposes there are high-tech 350-kW chargers on your route at evenly spaced one- or two-hour intervals. Unfortunately, as anyone who’s done a road trip in an EV, they are few and far between. Much more common, at least in my experience, is averaging somewhere between 50-kW (a bank of 125-kW chargers with all stations occupied) and 100-kW (a pair of 125-kW chargers, but I was the only one sucking back electrons).
In the latter case, you’re looking at about 1.5 hours to get that 70%, 240-km recharge. In the former case, well, I suspect that, even the most rabid EVer would have given up hope. For the record, every hour of 50-kW charging would add about 100 kilometres of range at my highway efficiency rate.
Add it all up and here, at last, is my conclusion regarding the Hummer EV and range. If you’re sure there are plenty of 350-kW DC fast chargers along your route, the big SUV could be passable as a road weapon. You’re looking at about two-and-a-half hours of driving — 310 kilometres travelled with about 30 to spare — and a 45-minute charge to complete another 240 or so klicks. If those chargers are regular 125-kW units — or, worse, 50-kWers — then a long trip in a Hummer EV is going to include lots of chowing down on roadside hamburgers that EV proponents claim brings joy to their every charging stop.
AM: Well, I certainly find it difficult to pass a roadside hamburger joint without stopping. But yes, DC fast-chargers are key when road tripping in the Hummer EV. And, of course, so is a Level 2 charger in your garage. But that’s the case for all electric vehicles, as home charging takes much of the fuss and anxiety out of going all-electric. And with Tesla opening up its charging network to all automakers, future Hummer EVs — if GMC determines the model has staying power — will be equipped with NACS ports.
The Hummer EV is most certainly a unique beast, and, like the Tesla Cybertruck, is really more about making a statement than reducing (conspicuous) energy consumption. It’s certainly not for everyone, but GMC never intended it to be a high-volume — or for that matter mid-volume — vehicle. Instead, it’s a rolling tribute to what is possible in the electric vehicle realm, and demonstrates that the almost unlikely prospect of an all-electric Hummer is not only possible, but very cool.
Practical? That’s debatable. But a blast to drive and absolutely packed with interesting technology that will not doubt migrate to future General Motors electric vehicles. That, I think puts it in much the same company as the Tesla Cybertruck.
DB: To me, GMC’s Hummer EV is a mass of contradictions. It sports either the biggest or the second biggest battery in the EV world — depending on whether you opted for truck or SUV version — but its range is, at best, middling. It weighs as much as a small cement truck, but thanks to four-wheel-steering, can change lanes or pull a tight U-turn better than most family sedans. It is fun, yet frustrating; speedy, but hardly sporty; and, most of all, huge without being particularly roomy.
Most of all, it is super high-tech. The Ultium batteries are indeed impressive and can charge at a fast rate. The Watts to Freedom mode that Andrew mentioned is truly entertaining. The Crab Walk mode even more so. And Lordy, if the infotainment system isn’t the the brightest, most comprehensive such system in GM’s lineup.
So, if I still can’t quite answer the question of why, I can take a stab at what. As a technological marvel, and example of what The General can do when it lets its engineers imagination run wild, the electrified Hummer is an absolute marvel. As the future of electric vehicles, not so much.
Despite a huge — nay, humungous — gee-whiz factor, if this is the future of full-sized, battery-powered trucks and SUVs, our electrification mandates are going to need to include hybrids.
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