CarBrandLogos archive · GMC · 2021

GMCHummer EV

A dead brand revived as an electric truck that can drive sideways.

Photo: MercurySable99 · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in GMC history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the GMC Hummer EV, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Hummer was killed off in 2010 as a symbol of everything the industry was moving away from, which makes GM's decision to bring it back as an electric sub-brand of GMC a deliberate provocation. The Hummer EV launched in November 2021 from the retooled Detroit-Hamtramck plant, built on GM's Ultium battery architecture as a four-door pickup and later a five-door SUV.

2022 Cleveland Auto Show · Erik Drost · CC BY 2.0

Design and engineering

The engineering is genuinely unusual. Dual or triple motors deliver outputs that would have been supercar territory a decade earlier, four-wheel steering allows the CrabWalk function that moves the vehicle diagonally, and removable roof panels and adjustable air suspension cover the off-road brief. Super Cruise handles hands-free motorway driving.

2023 Hummer EV SUT interior · deathpallie325 · CC BY-SA 4.0

2024 GMC Hummer EV3X SUV, rear left, 10-29-2023

In production

The catch is mass. The battery needed to move a vehicle this size gives the Hummer EV a kerb weight far beyond any conventional pickup, which has drawn sustained criticism over road wear, braking distances and whether an electric vehicle this heavy achieves much environmentally. It is best understood as a demonstration of what the Ultium platform can absorb rather than as a rational vehicle.

2024 GMC Hummer EV3X SUV, rear left, 10-29-2023 · MercurySable99 · CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

2021–present

Body

4-door pickup truck

Technical specification

The Hummer EV, in detail.

Production: November 2021 – present
Class: Full-size SUV; Full-size pickup truck
Body style: 4-door pickup truck; 5-door SUV
Layout: Rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout; Dual-motors, rear-wheel drive (Hummer EV2) ; All-wheel drive; Dual- or tri-motors, all-wheel drive (Hummer EV2X and EV3X)
Transmission: Single-speed
Designer: Rick Scheer (director of design); Brett Goliff (interior); Scott Martin (UX); Samir Datta (lighting)
Assembly: United States: Detroit, Michigan (Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly)
Manufacturer: GMC (General Motors)