Photo: GMC
When one thinks of electric cars, the first thing that comes to mind is energy efficiency. In other words, traveling further with spending fewer resources – something that Earth Overshoot Day would thank us for. All current electric cars head that way apart from the GMC Hummer EV. Check it under any perspective, and the only possible conclusion for such a vehicle to exist is that GM missed the point with electric cars.
The massive electric pickup truck made some headlines these days because of its enormous weight. It already had raised concerns from safety specialists frightened with what a 9,063 pounds (4,103 kilograms) accelerating from 0 to 60 mph (97 kph) in 3 seconds could represent in traffic. Thanks to a document submitted to EPA, we learned that this is not the only absurd number the Hummer EV presents.
The battery pack alone weighs 2,923 lb (1,326 kg). It has a usable capacity of 212.7 kWh. Car and Driver calculated its gross capacity, and that’s 246.8 kWh. We have already mentioned it weighs as much as compact cars such as the Toyota Corolla (1,295 kg for the 2-liter, or 2,855 lb) or the Hyundai Elantra (1,236 kg, or 2,725 lb).
Some of our colleagues on other websites mentioned a myriad of other cars, but the battery pack weighs as much as a 2022 Skoda Octavia 4 Combi 1.5 TSI G-TEC or a 1985 Renault 25 V6 Turbo. At this point, any comparison – with any car – just helps to illustrate how nonsensical that is. Trying to make sense of it makes that even more evident.
Consider only its usable capacity. A single Hummer EV battery pack could allow Mercedes-Benz, Lucid, Tesla, or Rivian to respectively produce two units of the EQS, Air, Model S Plaid, or R1T.
If you use a European subcompact electric car such as the Peugeot e-208 as an example, you could build four of them with the Hummer EV’s battery pack. Make it the Fiat 500e, and you would end up with five. If you consider the gross capacity, you will get five e-208s and six 500es.
Apart from the Fiat, all of these vehicles can carry five passengers. That also applies to the Hummer EV. GM could perhaps justify it by making it able to take a lot more cargo in the truck bed. That’s not the case: its payload capacity is 1,300 lb (590 kg).
The 2022 Fiat Strada double cab – also known as RAM 700 – weighs 2,573 lb (1,167 kg) and carries 1,433 lb (650 kg). The Rivian R1T has a 1,760 lb (798 kg) payload, which is already low compared to ICE pickup trucks.
If it does not carry more people and does not carry more load, perhaps it can travel further, right? Well, GM aims for a 329-mi (530-km) EPA range. Car and Driver calculated its MPGe and concluded it represents 47 MPGe.
That’s a fuel economy equivalent to what the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and the Honda Accord Hybrid can offer. The Ford Maverick HEV gets 37 MPG. To add insult to injury, the Hummer EV is beaten by the Toyota Prius. The Rivian R1T achieves a 70 MPGe rating, which is 49% superior to what the GMC EV presents.
Let that sink in: GM is selling you a $110,295 electric pickup truck that weighs 9,063 lb, carries five people, only 1,300 lb of cargo, and gets you only 329 miles of range with a full charge of its 212-kWh battery pack. If it is twice as big as the largest battery packs currently available, that also means you’ll take twice as much time to charge it.
Those willing to buy this electric pickup truck or already driving it around will try to defend it as a “cool” vehicle. It has a crab mode! It goes from 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds! Ironically, it could also be this sort of cool with a combustion engine. That would at the very least make it more environmentally friendly, as paradoxical as that seems.
With batteries in short supply, all the Hummer EV did was prevent vehicles that would really cut emissions from hitting the roads. A combustion engine would allow them to be applied in something more useful than a vanity vehicle.
If it were focused on work, an ICE would give it a lower weight, saving the asphalt, the brakes, and the tires from 9,063 lb. The lower mass would grant it a more reasonable payload, allowing it to make fewer trips to carry the same amount of cargo around. If the Hummer EV’s goal is to explore the outdoors, imagine how off-road trails would be better off with a lighter pickup truck.
We get it that GM wanted to appeal to the same public that currently wants massive and threatening pickup trucks, which already does not make much sense. Giving such a “halo car” an outrageous battery pack and electric motors did not make it less preposterous: it only made it more concerning. Electric vehicles should stand for something other than showing off.
The battery pack alone weighs 2,923 lb (1,326 kg). It has a usable capacity of 212.7 kWh. Car and Driver calculated its gross capacity, and that’s 246.8 kWh. We have already mentioned it weighs as much as compact cars such as the Toyota Corolla (1,295 kg for the 2-liter, or 2,855 lb) or the Hyundai Elantra (1,236 kg, or 2,725 lb).
Some of our colleagues on other websites mentioned a myriad of other cars, but the battery pack weighs as much as a 2022 Skoda Octavia 4 Combi 1.5 TSI G-TEC or a 1985 Renault 25 V6 Turbo. At this point, any comparison – with any car – just helps to illustrate how nonsensical that is. Trying to make sense of it makes that even more evident.
Consider only its usable capacity. A single Hummer EV battery pack could allow Mercedes-Benz, Lucid, Tesla, or Rivian to respectively produce two units of the EQS, Air, Model S Plaid, or R1T.
If you use a European subcompact electric car such as the Peugeot e-208 as an example, you could build four of them with the Hummer EV’s battery pack. Make it the Fiat 500e, and you would end up with five. If you consider the gross capacity, you will get five e-208s and six 500es.
Apart from the Fiat, all of these vehicles can carry five passengers. That also applies to the Hummer EV. GM could perhaps justify it by making it able to take a lot more cargo in the truck bed. That’s not the case: its payload capacity is 1,300 lb (590 kg).
The 2022 Fiat Strada double cab – also known as RAM 700 – weighs 2,573 lb (1,167 kg) and carries 1,433 lb (650 kg). The Rivian R1T has a 1,760 lb (798 kg) payload, which is already low compared to ICE pickup trucks.
If it does not carry more people and does not carry more load, perhaps it can travel further, right? Well, GM aims for a 329-mi (530-km) EPA range. Car and Driver calculated its MPGe and concluded it represents 47 MPGe.
That’s a fuel economy equivalent to what the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and the Honda Accord Hybrid can offer. The Ford Maverick HEV gets 37 MPG. To add insult to injury, the Hummer EV is beaten by the Toyota Prius. The Rivian R1T achieves a 70 MPGe rating, which is 49% superior to what the GMC EV presents.
Let that sink in: GM is selling you a $110,295 electric pickup truck that weighs 9,063 lb, carries five people, only 1,300 lb of cargo, and gets you only 329 miles of range with a full charge of its 212-kWh battery pack. If it is twice as big as the largest battery packs currently available, that also means you’ll take twice as much time to charge it.
Those willing to buy this electric pickup truck or already driving it around will try to defend it as a “cool” vehicle. It has a crab mode! It goes from 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds! Ironically, it could also be this sort of cool with a combustion engine. That would at the very least make it more environmentally friendly, as paradoxical as that seems.
With batteries in short supply, all the Hummer EV did was prevent vehicles that would really cut emissions from hitting the roads. A combustion engine would allow them to be applied in something more useful than a vanity vehicle.
If it were focused on work, an ICE would give it a lower weight, saving the asphalt, the brakes, and the tires from 9,063 lb. The lower mass would grant it a more reasonable payload, allowing it to make fewer trips to carry the same amount of cargo around. If the Hummer EV’s goal is to explore the outdoors, imagine how off-road trails would be better off with a lighter pickup truck.
We get it that GM wanted to appeal to the same public that currently wants massive and threatening pickup trucks, which already does not make much sense. Giving such a “halo car” an outrageous battery pack and electric motors did not make it less preposterous: it only made it more concerning. Electric vehicles should stand for something other than showing off.
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