There's a new Hummer coming, only this time around it will be sold under the GMC brand and feature a battery-electric powertrain. Yes, a name once synonymous with big, gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs is about to go electric.
General Motors already revealed the new GMC Hummer EV last October and now the first prototypes are out testing. It arrives as a 2022 model and production is due to start this fall at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant which is being modernized for electric vehicles.
2022 GMC Hummer EV
2022 GMC Hummer EV
2022 GMC Hummer EV
The Hummer EV will arrive with a pickup body style but an SUV is also in the works. GM hasn't said when the SUV will arrive but production will likely start sometime in 2022.
The prototypes look huge compared to the other vehicles on the road. Even on the back of the Chevy medium-duty flat-bed truck, the Hummer EV looks gargantuan.
2022 GMC Hummer EV spy shots - Photo credit: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien
There have been some subtle tweaks likely made for production. These include slimmed-down side mirrors, a roof-mounted shark-fin antenna, and revised front and rear fascias that feature areas for a license plate and rearview camera. The rear suspension also looks beefier than before.
You might be wondering why prototypes are only now testing when production is so close. The Hummer EV is the first vehicle devised under an accelerated development program GM has indicated will be the template for future vehicles. The project was only approved in early 2019 and the first functioning prototype was the vehicle unveiled last October.
According to GM, the accelerated development is made possible by virtual testing. This allows for more extensive development work than physical testing alone, GMC spokeswoman Tara Stewart Kuhnen told Motor Authority.
It also helped that the Hummer EV is based on GM's new Ultium modular platform for EVs, whose development started much earlier. The version of the platform in the Hummer EV will enable GM to offer buyers a three-motor powertrain generating 1,000 hp, or enough for 0-60 mph acceleration in three seconds. The biggest battery will be a 200-kilowatt-hour unit capable of delivering 350 miles of range.
2022 GMC Hummer EV
GM has a staggered launch planned for the Hummer EV, starting with the top models first. The automaker will first introduce a special Launch Edition grade with the three-motor powertrain this fall. It is priced to start at $112,595. About a year later, GM will introduce a regular Hummer EV3X with the three-motor powertrain, priced from $99,995. More affordable EV2X and EV2 grades will arrive in 2023 and 2024, respectively. The EV2X will be priced from $89,995 and the EV2 from $79,995.
The Hummer EV is part of an aggressive plan at GM to offer 30 EVs globally by 2025. The automaker has also hinted that it won't offer an internal-combustion engine in any light vehicle by 2035.
