General Motors has whipped the cover off the 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV and – no surprise – it is a whole lot like the previously unveiled Hummer EV pickup except ts is shorter, has less horsepower and range for the top trim and the cargo bay is enclosed instead of an open bed.
If you’ve been waiting, get ready to wait some more. The Hummer SUV won’t start showing up in showrooms and driveways until spring 2023. That’s two years from now and a year after the first of the Hummer electric pickups hit the market.
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The SUV Edition 1 trim – the priciest model – will launch first. It will start at $105,595 and climb to $110,595 if ordered with the Extreme Off-Road Package. (All pricing includes GMC’s mandatory destination fee.) The company says it already is sold out, via on-line ordering on the GMC.com website., but that a wait list is being compiled in case it decides to boost production.
The Edition 1 SUV will offer 830 horsepower and 11,500 pound-feet of torque as measured by GM. It will be able to run the zero-to-60 mph dash in 3.5 seconds and will offer up to 300 miles of range, dropping to 280 miles with the Extreme package.
In comparison, the pickup-bodied Hummer EV Edition 1, launching in spring 2022, will have 1,000 horsepower, the same 11,500 lb.-ft. of torque, a claimed 3-second time for the 0-60 dash and up to 350 miles of range.
In most other respects including the rollout pacing, the Hummer EV SUV appears to be the electric pickup’s fraternal twin, sharing most but not all of its DNA. (Sorry about all the acronyms, but GMC Hummer EV SUV is the official name, with the pickup called the GMC Hummer EV).
The SUV will come in four trim levels including the limited production Edition 1 that will launch in early spring two years from now.
Next up, a few months after the Edition 1 makes its debut, will be the 3X and 2X trims, followed in the spring of 2024 by the base trim, which is just called the Hummer EV SUV.
GM hasn’t provided much information about standard equipment and features, but here’s what the automaker has revealed:
Pricing and Powertrains
The base Hummer EV SUV will start, like the base pickup, at $79,995. It will use two motors – one for each axle, and a 16-module GM Ultium battery pack good for up to 250 miles of range. It can be upgraded to a 20-module battery good for up to 300 miles. GM says either configuration will deliver 625 horsepower and 7,400 lb.-ft. of torque. It won’t be available in spring 2024.
The 2X trim will start at $89,995, use the same two-motor layout as the base and have the same horsepower and torque ratings, but will come standard with the longer-range 20-module battery.
It is the lowest trim level than can get the Extreme Off-Road Package (more about that soon).
The 3X trim will start at $99,995. It and the Edition I trim use a three-motor layout – one up front and one for each rear wheel. Both get the 20-module battery, can be upgraded with the Extreme package and will deliver GM-estimated 860 horsepower and 11,500 lb.-ft.
The battery is smaller than in the pickup’s top trims because the SUV has a shorter wheelbase for increased maneuverability, and that reduces the space between the axles that’s available for the battery pack. To go bigger than 20 modules would have eaten into the SUV’s cargo space, the company said. GM hasn’t disclosed the energy content of each module in an Ultium battery system.
The Hummer EV SUV 2X and 3X trims will be available in late spring of 2023, a month or two after the Edition 1 hits the streets.
About That Torque
Torque in excess of 10,00 lb.-ft. seems too good to be true, but it’s all in the way it is measured.
For both electric and internal combustion vehicles, torque typically is measured at the motor. GM’s numbers are up there in what’s called “wheel torque” territory in which the motor torque is multiplied by the transmission gear ratio.
TheGreenCarGuy is not an engineer, but several non-GM reports have estimated that when measured as motor torque, the “real” number for the Edition 1 Hummer EV pickup – comparable to the numbers other truck makers post for their vehicles – will be in the neighborhood of a still-hefty 850-1,200 lb.-ft. The Hummer EV SUV will deliver the same
Charging
GM is equipping all but the base model SUV with 800 volt DC fast charging capability.
That means that as more powerful fast charges are installed around the country, the Hummers will be able to charge at up to 350 kilowatts – a speed that can take a depleted battery pack to 80 percent capacity in under 25 minutes, adding juice at a rate that can supply 100 miles of range every 10 minutes.
The base model with the 16-module battery pack gets 400-volt fast charging, typical of most of today’s EVs, but can be upgraded to 300-volt capacity with the optional 20-module battery.
For home and workplace charging, typically done with a Level 2, 240-volt system, the SUV can recharge at 11.5 kilowatts an hour, upgradable to 19.2 kW for the 2X trim and above with the optional Power Station on-board generator.
That generator converts energy stored in the Hummer’s battery pack into 110-volt or 240-volt current to be used to operate power tools and other electric equipment on job sites, in campgrounds and even t home in the event of a power outage.
Super Cruise
The SUV, like the pickup, comes with the latest version of GM’s Super Cruise hands-free driving system. It permits automated driving and lane changing on more than 200,000 miles of enabled roads in the U.S. – but requires a monthly subscription after the 36-month free trial expires.
While the driver’s hands don’t have to be on the wheel when Super Cruise is active, an in-cabin camera monitors eye motion to ensure the driver is paying attention to the road ahead.
Other Features
GM makes no secret of the fact that the Hummer EV SUV shares its platform and many of the same powertrain, suspension and interior components with the Hummer EV pickup.
Indeed, it appears that the big differences in exterior design are the SUV’s shorter length, taillight design and the extended roofline, sides and tailgate that enclose the area that forms the pickup’s bed. The tailgate opens to the side, swinging like a garden gate. It is power-operated and is the mounting location for the Hummer’s full-size spare tire,
The SUV’s 126.8-inch wheelbase is 9 inches shorter than the pickup’s. In combination with the shorter overall body length – 16.4 feet versus the pickup’s 18 feet – it gives the SUV better maneuverability, on-road and off, along with greater departure and break-overangles for improved obstacle clearance when off-roading. The SUV’s turning circle is 35.4 feet with four-wheel steering, same as the much smaller Chevrolet Bolt EV, and 1.7-feet tighter than the Hummer EV pickup can manage.
The SUV shares the pickup’s glass-panel roof, drop-down rear window and its all-wheel steering system that’s standard on all but the base model, as well as available features such as Crab Walk and Extract Mode.
Crab Walk uses all-wheel steering to enable the Hummer SUV’s wheels to turn up to 10 degrees off center, left or right, so it can be driven diagonally away from obstacles at slow off-road speeds – essentially scuttling sideways, like a crab.
Extract Mode raises the body to increase ground clearance to 15.9 inches from the standard 10.1 inches to help clear deep water and big boulders. By comparison, the Jeep Gladiator Mojave four-door pickup comes from the factory with 11.6 inches of ground clearance and the Grand Cherokee Limited 4X4 SUV has 8.6 inches.
An SUV typically is marketed as a people and cargo carrier, and while GMC – General Motors’ upscale truck division –is promoting the heck out of the off-road capabilities of both versions of the Hummer, the SUV’s standard equipment package does reflect a belief that it will be more of a family hauler and less of a work and roughhousing truck than the pickup.
The Edition 1 SUV will come standard with 22-inch alloys and all-terrain tires that have some highway manners. The 18-inch wheels and knobby-treaded 35-inch mud terrain tires that are standard on the Hummer EV pickup are part of the optional off-road package for the SUV.
The SUV’s interior is copied almost directly from the pickup’s, but both are sufficiently luxurious and well-outfitted that they can do the job whether or not the vehicle ever leaves the pavement.
Extreme Off-Road
Given their direct lineage from a diesel-powered military vehicle, the Hummers are pretty competent on most off-road trails even in base trim.
The Hummer SUV’s Extreme Off-Road package makes it superbly competent – or at least that’s what they specs say.
In addition to replacing the Edition 1’s 22-inch alloys with rugged 18-inch wheels mounted with 35-inch mud-terrain tires, the package adds belly armor, rock sliders along the sides of the vehicle beneath the rocker panels, and a camera system that provides underbody views to help drivers avoid potentially damaging rocks and other obstacles.
It also includes an electronic locking front differential and “virtual lockers” on the rear wheels. The “virtual” locker system provides for electronically controlled torque vectoring to limit rear wheel slip by directing available power to the wheel with the most traction.
The suspension has an “extract” mode that raises the body to increase ground clearance almost 6 inches, to 15.9-inches from the normal 10.1-inches. The extra height is intended to help the Hummer SUV clear large boulders and wade through up to 32 inches of water during off-road excursions.
Highway comfort and range will suffer but the big, heavy-lugged “MT” tires will take a pounding on rugged off-road surfaces and supply the sticky grip needed to clamber over slick rocks and through slick mud and snow.
High-end Electric SUV Market Shaping Up
The Jeep – long America’s go-to vehicle for extreme off-roading – is commonly used in comparisons with the Hummer. But in the marketplace not many those looking at GMC’s $80,000-$110,000 super-electric trucks are going to be cross-shopping gas-gulping Jeep models.
The Hummer SUV’s likely electric rivals will be from newcomers Rivan and Bollinger Motors. Both companies have developed rugged electric SUVs – and pickups – that are competitive with the Hummers in size, power, and capabilities. Both may hit the market several months before the Hummer EV pickup. EV-maker Tesla also has plans to launch a super-pickup – the Tesla Cybertruck – by the end of 2021
There also are a number of high-end, luxury-level but highly capable in†ernal combustion SUVs that could compete, including Mercedes-Benz’ G-Class and Land Rover’s Defender and Range Rover models.
It’s starting to look like the country’s off-road trails and vehicular rock-climbing and mud-wallowing venues, many already pretty popular, are going to be even more crowded in the not-to-distant future.
Unless, of course, the average Hummer EV SUV and its rivals spend their lives – as do most SUVs, even the most rugged – carrying the kids to school, making laundry and grocery runs and, for some owners, occasionally hauling a trailer or towing a boat.