And it probably won’t be a heavy-duty truck.
Gas-guzzling trucks and hulking SUVs are a thing of the past for Hummer. The new GMC Hummer EV (introduced via a LeBron James Super Bowl ad) is all about battery power, promising a fully electric powertrain when it debuts in a few months. And now, we have more information about the upcoming truck.
Over the past two days, Motor1.com has been at GM facilities in Michigan as part of the company's "EV Days" event. There, we uncovered more details on the upcoming Hummer EV, particularly in regard to details like features, toughness, and battery tech.
The Hummer EV will have a removable targa top. We're not sure whether that will come standard, or be available as an option. Either way, that targa roof will have four panels: two up front, and another two in the rear. Each of these panels, when removed, will have a dedicated storage compartment in the frunk – that is, the front truck under the vehicle’s hood. As for the cabin, we can only describe it as "butch;" think, Jeep Gladiator/Wrangler levels of toughness and weather-proofing.
GM's Big EV News:
There are also some new details about the Hummer EV's size. While the teaser from January hints at amber "identification lights" on the truck's roof, typical of heavy-duty trucks, the Hummer EV may actually be closer in scale to the current GMC Sierra half-ton. That would position it squarely against gas-powered trucks like the Ford F-150, Ram 1500, and, upcoming electric trucks like the Rivian R1T.
For battery tech, the GMC Hummer EV will be "Ultium powered," which is the name of new battery and battery-pack technology developed by GM and announced this week. While most Ultium-powered cars will have 400-volt packs with 200-kilowatt fast-charging abilities, the Hummer EV (and other electric trucks from GM) will have an 800-volt pack with charging speeds up to 350 kilowatts, which is similar in spec to battery pack that the Porsche Taycan uses. Already, we know the new Hummer will have 1,000 horsepower (745 kilowatts) and 11,500 pound-feet (15,590 Newton-meters) of axle torque, with the ability to hit 60 miles per hour (96 kilometers per hour) in just 3.0 seconds.
GM will build both the GMC Hummer EV, as well as the new Cadillac Lyriq electric SUV, at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant. The electric Hummer debuts on May 20, 2020, before production begins in the fall of 2021.
