The 2024 Hummer EV SUV Edition 1 is so many different things. A status symbol. A lab experiment for genuinely impressive technology that will trickle down through the GM product lineup for years to come. A king of Hammertown that rules with an electrified fist. An eco-friendly vitamin stuffed into a 4.5-ton pork chop with a bag of tricks that will impress members of both the off-road and gated communities. A Model X inside a body built on the Liver King’s nine ancestral tenets of steroid use. But mostly it is GM’s moonshot to show the truck market that EVs can be cool and as they say, if you have one shot, make it count.
It has impressive hardware. The power numbers draw the most attention because they’re simple to understand: 830 hp, 1200 lb-ft of torque. That’s nearly three times the horsepower of the original five-door Hummer H1 Alpha Wagon, which I assume was the family car for the Tate family. People with a good memory will notice that the SUV makes 180 fewer horsepower than the 2023 Hummer EV truck. The SUV’s wheelbase is nine inches shorter than the pickup’s, which means the battery has 16 percent less capacity.
It doesn’t matter. Select launch mode (which GMC calls “Watts to Freedom”) and the air suspension lowers it so much that the camber visibly changes as if you had strung a hammock between two corn stalks. Stand on the brake and throttle, lift your left foot, and in 3.5 seconds you reach 60 mph. The test track GM had arranged was a small two-lane road connecting two parking lots, so we couldn’t explore the performance much beyond 65. Constant rain may seem suboptimal for such driving but it allowed the traction control to show off its skills. With each launch, the Hummer was learning how much grip was available and dialing in precisely how much power to send to each wheel, and so it got quicker and quicker. The synthy-sci-fi-hum emitted from the speakers is far too calm a soundtrack for such ferocity.
The precision that finds traction on wet tarmac is even more useful in the dirt. The EV’s modes dictate the height of the air suspension, how active the rear steer should be, and how much wheel slip is allowed. It can lock the front differential and “virtually lock” the rear by telling the two motors to work in concert. Sadly, I didn’t get to try any of it. Although GM had turned a field into an off-road demonstration area, they said it had rained too much and the engineers felt it was best if we journalists didn’t drive; we’d get ride-alongs with their engineers at the wheel. The ruts were certainly deep, some with standing water in them, but it seemed odd to bar us from driving considering the Hummer literally has a setting called “Extraction mode, which temporarily raises its belly 15.9 inches above the Earth.
I understand that the rain in Northern California has been unusually persistent and heavy, and all it takes is one stuck colleague to halt the program and extend everyone’s work day by several hours, but it should be said that every GM driver navigated the mud without issue. How the credit should be divided between technique and the Hummer we’ll never know.
Should you choose to drive your Hummer into the dirt you will have a lot of things to help you get back out. My tester has the optional $5000 Extreme Off-Road package, which comes with 18-inch wheels, 35-inch Mud-Terrain tires, an e-Locker differential up front, Rear Virtual locker , skid plates, and rock sliders. It has 13 inches of suspension travel but if you find yourself high-centered, Extract Mode gives you an additional three inches. Just make sure your mud pit of choice is close to a charger because this battery pack enables an estimated 300 miles of range, 29 miles short of the truck’s. An R1T will go 400 miles with a comparable battery pack but its coefficient of drag is 40% better, partly due to the Rivian being five inches narrower than the Hummer.
The driving route led us past Napa vineyards to a twisting vein tarmac that meanders through the Petrified Forest. At first I wondered why they had chosen this route; iIt seemed a better arena for a new Camaro or Corvette. I soon received a lesson in expectation and superficial judgment. Despite being five inches wider than a Suburban, the Hummer shined. The air suspension lets it lean a little but it feels more like a 4000-lb crossover than the spiritual successor to the U.S. military’s go-to troop hauler. Even on tight turns, the steering rarely required more than 45-degrees of input. The rear steer programming is very good. The only time I noticed it was when cornering at around 40 mph, which is when the rear transitions from moving opposite the front wheels to parallel. To some off-roaders, a canyon road means a rearview mirror filled with a line of frustrated traffic. Not in this.
The only real problem arises when you press the left pedal. It has supercar acceleration but its 9000-lb weight isn’t far off a 12-passenger airport shuttle, so stopping from 60 mph requires 137 feet, which is one meter beyond a 2020 GMC Sierra 3500HD dually. This is a problem that afflicts both the Rivian R1S and the Ford Lighting, which stop from 60 mph in 131 feet (when fitted with all-terrain tires) and 133 feet, respectively.
The interior is spacious, of course, with a selection of rectangular crannies for dust to take roost in. Most of the information is delivered via two large screens, the incredibly detailed graphics powered by the Unreal Engine, the 3D modeling software that also powers Fortnite. Change the driving mode and an animated Hummer barrels across whatever terrain you’ve selected, from a snowy road to Mars-like red dirt. Select Tow and it pulls a Saturn 5 rocket. The graphics are cool the first time you see them but after that they just take up a lot of screen time. As bright and responsive as they are, the layout made it hard to see crucial information. Although the gauge offers several formats--moving the speedometer around to make space for things like a G-meter (why?) or navigation--the tiny speed limit indicator remained in the same place where it was blocked by the steering wheel. Hopefully this can be tweaked with an over-the-air update. What impressed me the most was Super Cruise, GM’s Advanced Driver Assistance System. Despite driving rain, it guided us down Highway 101 perfectly. Cyber truck indeed.
Many functions are still controlled by buttons, thankfully. The climate controls, seat heaters, differentials, traction settings, and driving modes are all commanded by wide buttons that will be easy to use while wearing gloves. In a world increasingly overrun by frustrating capacitive controls, I thank GM for fighting the good fight.
Plastic abounds. The roof panels are made of flexible plastic, and there’s significant wind noise, although I can’t think of many buildings that remain silent during a hurricane. Overall it is a nice place to sit but not necessarily a luxurious one. If you’re expecting an experience to rival a six-figure Defender or Range Rover you will be disappointed.
But you shouldn’t expect that because—as in the Corvette—GM puts the money into the drivetrain. The electric motors, battery, sensors, the rear steer; that stuff costs money. Does the Hummer borrow parts from other trucks? Of course. Does the Rivian make you feel like you got more for similar money? Yes. But that startup lost seven billion dollars last year. GM made 10 billion.
Customers certainly aren’t shying away. GM said they’ve taken 90,000 orders, split between the pickup and the SUV. Some 40% of them are new to GM.
By many measurements the Hummer is conspicuous consumption defined. No one needs a 4.5-ton truck that can chase a GT-R down a drag strip. Its width requires the on-board cameras to safely navigate a drive-thru, and the battery is 10 times the size of the pack in a Wrangler 4XE, which will happily ferry you around town in silence and then take you as far into the unknown as gas stations and jerry cans allow.
That’s all true. But one number pauses my eye roll: 70. That’s the percentage of deposits that come from first-time EV buyers. A lot of us buy cars to reflect a part of our personality and there are communities that don’t like EVs. They might think electric cars are boring (which used to be true), worry about range, or dislike them purely for political reasons. But I’d bet that a lot of people looked at what was available and thought, “That’s not me.” Tribalism and personality are not based on objectivity.
Seventy percent of customers will experience a new kind of propulsion. They will get into a vehicle that appears brash, rugged, and hard. But when they pull away from their house the sensation will essentially be the same as it would if they were driving a Tesla or a Prius or a Mach-E. So yes, it is ridiculous and unnecessary, but if it gets a new group of people interested in alternative powertrains, then this shot has hit the moon.
