Okay, confession time. I’ve never liked people who own and drive those excessively large flatbed trucks. They are intimidating, obnoxiously loud and are a nightmare to park next to. So, I assume the guys—and, let’s be honest, it is always guys—that own a Ford F-150 or RAM 1500 as having the same characteristics. Guys who have Big ‘Bro Energy’. I assume that they all do some kind of combat sport, watch MMA, subscribe to a calorie-counting meal plan, and probably pay for it in Crypto. I instinctively judge them for that.
I am, of course, aware that this is all just baseless preconceived judgment, (which probably says more about me than them) so, I made a call and had the biggest and baddest truck on the market sent to my house to try expand my horizons. As they say, don’t judge another man until you have driven a thousand miles in his truck, or something like that.
The 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV is a beast. When sitting in your driveway you walk around it with equal parts admiration and caution. Like you would do with, say, a grizzly bear. ‘Puff out your chest, and make yourself look big’ is what they say to do when you encounter a grizzly—the same holds true with the Hummer. Between its hulking metal exterior, huge battery pack, segment-leading power, and exorbitant price, everything about the GMC Hummer EV goes big.
While I’m making confessions, here’s another one: I am a sucker for the fancy dancing light displays that greet you when you unlock a car. The new Hummer’s one is particularly fun with a front that features a light bar spelling out the Hummer logo (and even shows the vehicle’s charging status). It gives you the feeling that you’re in for a treat with every journey.
The interior is simultaneously both rugged and refined. Upscale materials include chic bronze accents, cool topography-embossed speaker grilles, and leather-stitched surfaces. The dashboard has vertical and horizontal elements that give it a distinctive look, and the decision to go with more physical buttons and switches rather than touch-screen controls is a pleasing one.
The sightlines from within the cabin—yes, cabin, because it is as big as one—are seriously restricted. The letterbox windscreen (cleaned by three fun-sized wipers) and thick metal shell keep your visibility to a minimum, but is counteracted with a full complement of driver assists including blind-spot and rear cross-traffic warnings, automatic rear braking, forward-collision warning with automatic braking, GM’s Super Cruise feature for hands-free driving on compatible highways, lane-keeping assist, and a surround-view camera system with a bird’s-eye view.
For a vehicle of its size and weight, it is physics-defyingly quick off the mark—the launch control rockets the Hummer from 0 to 100kph in about 3.5 seconds. The heftiness comes from its weight. The engineers at GMC have outfitted the Hummer with a massive 205kWh battery, good for around 560km of range. All that battery power pushes the truck’s weight north of 9,000lb, of which you can feel every single ounce from the driver’s seat, especially when braking.
One of the electric SUV’s best revelations is how surprisingly nimble it is to drive. Thanks to a four-wheel steering system—best experienced in ‘Crab Walk’ mode—that enables extraordinary off-road capabilities and remarkable maneuverability, which is particularly useful for navigating tight parking lots.
According to GMC, charging wise, the Hummer EV SUV can go from 20 percent to 80 percent in 55 minutes at a Level 3 DC fast charger operating between 300kW and 350kW. With a Level 2 AC charger (working at up to 19.2kW) the battery can fill from 20 percent to 80 percent in about eight hours.
The unapologetically huge Hummer EV SUV is among the most powerful and capable vehicles you can drive on and off the road, and it has the design flair to back up its audacious image. Backing up my original prejudices, the sheer size, power, and utility of GMC’s new Hummer EV indeed comes with a double shot of Big Bro Energy but, for my final confession, it turns out that I am totally fine with that