Summary

• The GMC Hummer EV is very large, heavy, and inefficient, with a 246.8 kWh battery pack weighing as a lot as a Honda Civic.
• Despite being large, the Hummer EV is not the most important automobile on the street, however its weight poses challenges for effectivity and environmental affect.
• Priced at over $96,000, the Hummer EV is an extreme, area of interest product focusing on prosperous patrons not involved with its environmental affect.

The GMC Hummer EV in both SUV and pickup variations are monstrously huge electric vehicles (EVs), principally a zero-emissions model of older Hummer H2s and H3s that drank crude oil like there is not any tomorrow. Well, that is just about the case right this moment, however solely this time, it consumes battery power as if it have been an infinite useful resource. In its protection, the GMC Hummer EV presents a whole lot of vary, with GM even claiming as much as 381 miles when outfitted with the 24-module battery or an EPA-estimated 314 miles for the Hummer EV SUV.

But there’s one caveat to the way it’s capable of obtain that vary. With the aerodynamic properties of a brick and the mass of Jupiter, the Hummer EV is inherently inefficient wherever you take a look at it. This implies that huge batteries are a should, and that creates one other set of challenges (not essentially issues) that the Hummer EV at present faces.

In order to provide the latest and correct data attainable, the information used to compile this text was sourced from GMC and different authoritative sources, together with Car and Driver, Motor Trend, EIA, OECD, GMC, Honda, Ford, Lincoln, Chevrolet, Streetsblog NYC, and EnterpriseInsider.

So Heavy, It Probably Has Its Own Gravitational Pull

Whereas the battery sizes of most range-topping full-size luxurious electrical sedans or SUVs prime out at round 100 kWh, the 24-module Ultium battery packs a complete capability of 246.8 kWh gross (212.7 kWh usable). That’s greater than twice that of automobiles just like the Tesla Model X and much more than the 200 kWh that the Silverado EV has. As a outcome, the massive battery pack that the Hummer EV is hauling presents us with various fascinating information and figures.

A Battery That Weighs As Much As A Civic

Yes, you learn that proper. That 246.8 kWh (gross) battery alone weighs as a lot as a Honda Civic at nearly 3,000 pounds. So, at this level, you is likely to be questioning how a lot the Hummer EV weighs in whole. Given that the battery is already as heavy as a compact passenger automotive, the GMC Hummer EV Pickup at its heaviest fully-loaded Edition 1 kind weighs an astonishingly obscene 9,640 pounds, whereas the SUV in Edition 1 form as well, weighs 8,900 pounds.

In the case of the Pickup, that is almost 4,000 kilos greater than the heaviest you could possibly get in an F-150 PowerBoost hybrid, which weighs 5,540 pounds. As a outcome, the GMC Hummer EV is heavy sufficient for the Hummer EV to be labeled as a category 3 medium-duty truck within the United States.

Yet Despite Its Weight, It’s Not The Outright Biggest

Hummers have at all times been large; maybe too large for their very own good. It was the definition of extra, as a result of there is not any want for such a automotive to occupy a lot actual property on the street, but it will possibly solely haul the identical variety of folks as a five-passenger Toyota Corolla can. These are the scale of the GMC Hummer EV in both pickup and SUV variations, and that is the way it compares with different full-size pickups and SUVs on the street at their heaviest specs.

All of those are gas-fed or hybrid full-size pickups and SUVs, and but, whereas the Hummer EV SUV and Pickup are large, they are not essentially greater than the most important variations of its gas-powered equivalents. At the identical time, the Hummer EV is considerably heavier than its similarly-sized gas-powered equivalents. Lastly, whereas the Hummer EV siblings aren’t essentially the longest or the tallest, it’s considerably wider than any of its gas-powered equivalents, which is what really contributes to its large street presence.

Hummer EV Pickup Vs. Gas Pickups

(Specs sourced from GMC, Ford, and Chevy)

Hummer EV SUV Vs. Other Gas Full-Size Luxury SUVs

(Specs sourced from GMC, Cadillac, and Lincoln)

The Hummer EV Has To Deal With Challenges

Due to issues surrounding its dimension and (largely) its weight, the Hummer EV SUV and Pickup has to take care of its personal set of challenges, most of which focus on its supposed inexperienced credentials. Sure, it is a zero emissions automobile, however whereas it could not emit something from its drivetrain, it does emit a whole lot of dangerous chemical compounds within the surroundings in a couple of oblique methods you in all probability did not anticipate.

No Tailpipe Emissions, But…

The most evident concern right here is greenhouse gasoline emissions from the ability technology stage. With such a large battery to cost, and with the United States getting 61-percent of its energy from oil, coal, and natural gas, the Hummer EV will produce extra greenhouse gases upstream in comparison with smaller EVs.

Granted, the GMC Hummer EV is a halo automotive for the model, and its six-figure price ticket means it is not a mass-market commodity. Instead, the Hummer EV is extra of a showcase of what an EV is able to, serving as proof that an EV may also do what a large gas-powered SUV may additionally do.

Finally, do you know that whereas the Hummer EV would not emit any carbon dioxide emissions, it has the potential to emit one thing much more dangerous on the floor stage? Due to its sheer dimension and weight, the OECD has famous that there’s increased tire emissions when a car is bigger due to more tire wear. Likewise, a heavier automotive wants extra stopping energy, which, as you’ve got in all probability guessed, results in extra brake mud than if it have been a lighter automotive.

The Hummer EV Is Expectedly Inefficient

With an EPA-estimated vary of greater than 300 miles, it will greater than meet the vary wants of most EV shoppers. However, it achieved that vary regardless of being a grossly heavy brick on the street by large batteries, not as a result of it was environment friendly in its power consumption. Whenever we purchase an EV, we have a tendency to have a look at its vary first moderately than its effectivity, since EV charging remains to be rarer than gassing up. If we carry effectivity into the equation, the new Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD is EPA rated at 116-134 MPGe. The Hummer EV? It’s thrice much less environment friendly at 47 MPGe.

This is why the Hummer EV wants such a large battery, and that in itself is resource-intensive and probably has extra greenhouse gasoline emissions than if it had a smaller battery. With the Hummer EV’s battery dimension of 246.8 kWh, you could possibly already produce almost three 82 kWh batteries for the Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD and but journey on the similar distance and even additional.

The Hummer EV Is Today’s Definition Of Excess

The Hummer EV SUV and Pickup are the epitome of extra. It’s greater and heavier in each single means than even the unique Hummer H1 that introduced the model onto the map. As the world transitions to EVs, the irony of the Hummer EV is that, it additionally occurs to be a politically incorrect automobile on the similar time to the eyes of some.

It’s Not An EV To Save The Environment

Normally, you’d purchase an EV due to the monetary and environmental advantages of proudly owning one (relying in your way of life and driving habits, in fact), however the Hummer EV is none of these issues. It’s inefficient, resource-intensive to provide, and grossly too heavy for the Brooklyn Bridge. Yes, you learn that proper, the Hummer EV, together with a number of different full-size SUVs, cannot cross the Brooklyn Bridge and some different bridges within the nation.

At the identical time, resulting from its sheer dimension, it begs the query of whether or not it is even value having a automobile that may solely sit 5 folks however occupies the identical area on the street as a medium-duty truck; to not point out the security dangers posed by giant automobiles on the street.

Here’s Why It’ll Stay As A Niche Product

Do you realize what’s additionally unsafe? Having a 9,000-pound beast sprinting from 0-60 mph in simply three seconds, as a result of in Edition 1 guise, the Hummer EV with its three electrical motors produces 1,000 horsepower. Clearly, what the Hummer EV goals to be is an excessively giant SUV or truck for individuals who personal a gas-powered equal and will not be satisfied anytime quickly to change to a Tesla. They by no means purchased these automobiles for the surroundings, and that is just about going to be the case with the Hummer EV’s buyer base.

Its six-digit price ticket additionally limits the Hummer EV’s enchantment to those that can solely afford it, and with so many wonderful offerings–supercars included, on the Hummer EV’s worth level, the heavyweight EV will certainly have its followers inside its already small, highly-affluent target market.