Test drive: 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV showcases excess

• The 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV is a rolling technology showcase for GM

• It defies physics with its acceleration and weight

• The GMC Hummer EV SUV costs $98,845 and has up to 314 miles of range

General Motors apparently decided the company needed to prove EVs were cool by creating a flagship that goes beyond what any consumer needs. The world got the GMC Hummer EV as both a pickup truck and an SUV.

A showcase for the brand’s Ultium electric vehicle battery and architecture tool set, the GMC Hummer EV provides excess for buyers in every conceivable way.

It has cartoon-like proportions, supercar-like speed, usable range, and a plush ride. But it’s wildly inefficient, weighs more than a heavy-duty pickup, has some software glitches in a vehicle that’s defined by its software, and sports some cheap interior materials despite the extreme price tag.

It’s a rolling contradiction.

Here are the pros and cons of the 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV after spending a week hauling the kids to activities, running errands, and WTFing (Watts To Freedoming, don’t be silly).

2024 GMC Hummer EV

Pro: Hummer EV SUV is as absurd looking than the truck

In my review of the GMC Hummer EV pickup, I declared, “if America were a vehicle it would be the GMC Hummer EV pickup truck.” That statement rings just as true here, though given their popularity, the SUV may be even more American. Buyers seeking attention will turn to the SUV for the proportions alone.

At 92.1 inches wide the SUV’s the same width as the pickup, but its wheelbase is 8.9 inches shorter and overall it’s 20 inches shorter. The shorter length changes the presence, making the SUV look even like it was plucked from a child’s cartoon. 

It’s a real-life Tonka Truck experience, like the Bronco Raptor. The 10-year-old Joel in me loved it. The adult in me kept thinking, “this is stupid.” It’s not all stupid, though, as the changes versus the pickup make it more capable with better angles for off-roading and easier to maneuver in a parking lot.

2024 GMC Hummer EV

Pro: Hummer EV has power to spare

This thing has three electric motors good for 830 hp. The Hummer EV SUV weighs an asphalt-crippling 8,887 pounds and yet it rips from 0-60 mph in an unbelievable 3.5 seconds. It requires engaging WTF (ahem, Watts To Freedom) mode by pressing the traction control button twice while stopped, confirming via the steering wheel controls that yes you do indeed want to engage WTF mode, then waiting while the air suspension lowers the Hummer EV. During this process the system chills the battery, vibrates the driver seat, and starts to rumble as if you’re preparing to launch into space. Brake to the floor, throttle down, Green in the gauge cluster means go, then off the brake and things inside your body start to move real fast. The body motions during launch are more dramatic than in the truck as the front end feels like it’s about to lift off the ground as the rear end squats on its soft tires. Prototypes of the truck were pulling wheelies during development. The inverse occurs when you slam on the brakes and the front end dives like a trophy truck. My 8-year-old son was in love.

2024 GMC Hummer EV

2024 GMC Hummer EV

2024 GMC Hummer EV

Con: Hummer EV costs too much

My Hummer EV SUV 3X model started at $98,845 including a mandatory $2,295 destination charge. Options brought it to $118,205. Notable among them was the the $9,995 Extreme Off-Road Package that made the Hummer EV SUV more extreme thanks to 35-inch all-terrain tires on 18-inch wheels, rear recovery hook, rock rails with built-in steps, skid plates, underbody cameras, a locking front differential, and a rear e-locker that locks the two rear motors together. 

The interior simply isn’t up to the six-figure price as it has hard plastics all over the place and rubbery-feeling, wipeable materials on the doors. The seats feel like they should be in a $50,000 Yukon, at best. A Rivian is a full step ahead of this interior for similar or less money.

2024 GMC Hummer EV

Pro: Hummer EV SUV has usable range

Despite weighing nearly 9,000 pounds, the Hummer EV has up to 314 miles of EPA-rated range. Due to my tester’s Extreme Off-Road Package with the 35-inch all-terrain tires, I only had 298 miles of EPA-rated range. The impressive range is thanks to the Hummer EV SUV’s big and heavy 170-kwh battery pack. That’s smaller than the truck’s 205-kwh pack since the SUV’s shorter than its pickup sibling. With such useful range, I never felt range anxiety. Big battery packs have that effect, but I can’t help but ponder how much of the battery is there simply to move the mass of the battery itself.

2024 GMC Hummer EV

Con: Hummer EV SUV drinks energy

Given all that weight and a design that isn’t exactly optimized for aerodynamics, the Hummer EV SUV is horrendously inefficient. Over the course of 300 miles, my orange beast averaged 1.5 mi/kwh. That’s about half as efficient as a Chevrolet Blazer EV I tested under the same conditions. I’ve averaged better than that in a Ford F-150 Lightning in sub-zero temps. A Rivian can top 2.0 mi/kwh on all-terrain tires, and nearly hit that in cold-weather temps with a four-motor powertrain. The Hummer EV’s just an electron guzzler.

2024 GMC Hummer EV

Pro: Hummer EV SUV’s hard to upset

With up to 16.0 inches of ground clearance in Extract Mode, the Hummer EV SUV doesn’t have an issue going over just about anything it’s likely to encounter. I’m not saying I blasted over parking lot speed bumps or train track crossings faster than anyone should, but if you did, the Hummer EV SUV wouldn’t blink. The suspension’s 13 inches of travel, cushy all-terrain tires, and tall ride height (a standard 10.1 inches) absorb impacts and enable speeds far beyond legal or practical limits over off-road (or even on-pavement) obstacles. However, given its weight, I wouldn’t dare take this thing off-road at a high rate of speed like I would a Braptor. Something would give, and it likely wouldn’t be the Earth.

2024 GMC Hummer EV

Con: Hummer EV SUV has electronic glitches

Just like the Hummer EV pickup I tested, the Hummer EV SUV came with its share of electronic glitches. Several times throughout the week, the Hummer logo splashed across the screen as the system hung while loading various functions. At one point, the touchscreen locked up and wouldn’t respond for a few minutes. More importantly, the long side-opening tailgate—it’s so long because this thing’s so wide—only opened via its power control correctly one time. I tapped the button to open the tailgate and heard a click, but sometimes nothing happened. Sometimes the tailgate popped open enough to get a finger inside to open it.

Just like America, the 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV is completely over the top. It’s too much of everything and not enough of certain things—like restraint—to make it a fit for mainstream buyers. For the people who buy this electric SUV, it’s a standout in every way, for better, worse, and everything in between.

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2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV 3X

Base price: $98,845 including $2.295 destination

Price as tested: $118,205

Powertrain: 830-hp three-motor powertrain, full-time four-wheel drive

EPA fuel economy: 298 miles of range (EPA-cycle, according to GM)

The pros: Lots of power, good range, tackles most terrain, cool like a Tonka truck

The cons: Horrendously inefficient, expensive, glitchy, too much of everything