by Wallace Wyss –
Originally, way back there was a military vehicle called the Humvee or Hummer. That made an impractical civilian car. So General Motors copied the styling and made a heavy vehicle that had similar styling, even offering it as a pickup. But it died around 2010, killed partly by its great appetite.
Now there is an all new electric Hummer. Being electric, there is some hope it will achieve its estimated range of about 300 to 350 miles. (Annoying the Rivian R1T has a 400-mile range). The GMC Electric Hummer owners can brag it is fast. Crazy fast. Like from 0 to 60 mph in three seconds. Faster than a 427 Cobra. But I say if it’s bought to tow a boat or trailer, that range will disappear fast.
Oh, it has two lovable features–a removable front hatch on the roof that, if you also detach the center bar, makes it a targa. And has four-wheel steering for off-roading that allows you to turn up to 7.2 feet tighter compared to driving with two-wheel steering.
GMC Electric Hummer
But the price could be a bummer. I have heard it starts at around $79,995 or twice as much as Ford’s F-150 Lightning work truck model. I think the First Edition is even $150,000.
The massive torque figure between 1,000 and 1,100 lb-ft, mean it could tow between 7,500 to 11,000 lbs and it has the ability to carry a payload of up to 3,500 lbs, too. Impressive but I say all this depends on how heavy the thing is you are towing. Weight saps the range. What about vehicle storage when this vehicle is so large? Owners would want their Hummer stored inside at night for charging.
It is powered by GM’s Ultium battery-pack tech, rated at 800-volt with a 350-kilowatt fast-charging capability. When charging, you can add up to 100 miles of range in 10 minutes.
The interior is way, way beyond the military Hummer, with premium, high-quality finishes. And gizmos, including a 13.4-inch infotainment screen and a 12.3-inch digital instrument panel.
If GM goes bankrupt because they didn’t get on the electric bandwagon soon enough, I think some of the blame should be on whoever approved this overweight over expensive toy instead of making more practical cars to compete with, say, the Tesla Model Y. Oh sure when the first Hummer EVs hit the streets they will be in video, celebrated as the latest thing. But leaving most consumers only with their noses pressed against the showroom windows, it being overpriced.
I think if the US government is called upon to bail GM out again, a Congressional hearing should ask execs why they thought making such a big hulk could compete in the EV world. These executives make one bad decision after another but never go to jail (well, VW did have one exec go to jail for lying about VW diesels but most of the time there is no punishment for their costly bad decisions).
So I’m shooting this model down even before it appears in volume. I say “in volume” because they did sell one in 2021. Yes, one.
Pathetic.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR Wallace Wyss is writing a book on Tesla vs the Big Three and welcomes opinions.
To increase range, they add batteries.
When you add batteries, you add weight.
When you add weight, you decrease range.
This is the dog chasing his tail into another 50% drop in market share. And begging for another bailout.
Mary Barra has an EE degree from Kettering U., but it obviously is not her job to get the engineering done.
It would perturb me if you liked this truck Wally. As far as I know you never owned a truck in your life and you certainly are not the target customer for driving such a vehicle let alone towing anything.
When you said they sold only one Hummer last year did you mean this:
The first build of the HUMMER EV with the VIN 001, was auctioned on March 27, 2021, at Barrett-Jackson at a hammer price of $2.5 million with proceeds benefitting the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, an organization established to honor the memory of Sept. 11 first responder Stephen Siller, GM said on its press release.
Since when has GM ever made good decisions about the market they serve? Back in the 80’s I was working for a cellular engineering firm and we were invited in by GM to discuss them putting in cellular phones at the point of manufacturing, which would capture carrier commissions on top of the equipment charges (and margins) and of course the vehicle itself. They could easily garner $700-800 per vehicle sale, just by installing a mobile phone and aligning with a wireless carrier. That’s significant. At the table they had all members of the “old guard” and one young Japanese executive in the mix. As they went around the table for comments after the presentation, every one of the old guard was saying things like “Well, we should do a study on this” or “Maybe we should table this until we have more research and focus groups.” When it came to the Japanese guy, he stood up and slammed his fist on the table and said “We should do this NOW, preempt the competition, create additional profits, take the lead in the market and capture more market share for our products…” Obviously, the old guard did not appreciate his enthusiasm, and so they did nothing. Other car manufacturers did. GM has a myopic view of the market and what’s needed in the market, no wonder their products are still considered substandard.
Now that I m researching Detroit more I find the Big Three stuck with old chips when the European and Asian automakers went to newer thinner wafer ones, so once again Detroit is dragged kicking and screaming into getting their electronics contemporary. I think they would be happier if we said “Just keep building them ’55 Chevys…”