If you are a huge fan of GM’s Hummer pickup trucks, you must be exhilarated that new models are coming back to American roads. However, the new pickup trucks will no longer be the ultimate fuel guzzlers that gained notoriety during the 2000s. GM plans to use them to usher in its cleaner, all-electric future. One thing is guaranteed. If it’s a Hummer, it has to be heavy, which brings into question how efficient the battery can be. 

The rise, fall, and resurrection of the Hummer 

If you owned a Hummer back in the 2000s, you were definitely a big deal. According to Business Insider, the heavy-duty pickup truck was adapted from the humvee, a military combat vehicle that became popular during the Gulf War. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the first civilian to get his hands on one. Then, everyone wanted to experience the ludicrous feeling of rolling around public roads in the enormous pickup truck.

If you wanted to be part of the military without getting your boots on the combat zone, this was as close as you could get. It was also a status symbol, due to its astonishing value, and celebrities made it a landmark in their garages.  

However, the rise of the Hummer proved to be problematic for the planet, and it soon became a symbol of wasteful consumption. As an overwhelming, overspecialized and overpowered vehicle, the Hummer’s fuel consumption was just as much. Its newfound popularity was as “Earth’s biggest pollutant.” 

As global warming experts spoke in forums and conferences about the vehicle’s excessive thirst, vandals took the battle to the streets. From defacing parked Hummers to vandalizing and destroying those still on dealership lots, they did it all in the name of preserving the planet. 

Hummer’s parent company GM discontinued the vehicle after a failed bid to sell the brand to a Chinese manufacturer named Tengzhong in 2010. For close to a decade, the pickup truck only existed as a relic of an era. With EVs being dubbed as saviors of the planet, the vehicle seems to be redeemed. GM banks on the incredible advances made in battery technology to challenge and exceed the current EV expectations. 

Heavier batteries for more efficiency

True to its origins, the new Hummer pickup truck unveiled by GMC is quite a beast, with a potential of yielding up to 1,000 horsepower and weighs more than 9,000 pounds. However, bigger and heavier EV vehicles need heavy batteries. GM’s new Ultium battery-pack technology is equal to the task. Inside EVs suspects that the platform, which will feature wireless communication between its battery modules, will equip each Hummer EV with a 200 kWh battery pack. 

GreenCar Reports speculated that GM’s new battery-pack technology could be more efficient for its lightweight Hummers. The automaker claims more than 350 miles for the Hummer EV SUT and an efficiency of 1.7 miles per kWh. This could mean that its 2024 Hummer EV SUV, which will have lesser power demands as it will make 830 hp, might be more efficient. Car and Driver report that with its quick charging speeds reaching 300 kW, the electrified SUV has already claimed more than 300 miles of driving range.  

What we know so far about the upcoming Hummer EV SUV

The latest reports from Edmunds suggest that the upcoming Hummer EV SUV’s base model, EV2 will have an 800-volt architecture which will ensure that it can use the most potent DC fast chargers available. The SUV might be slower than the truck, with smaller but efficient batteries. 

GMC fitted it with a smaller battery pack since the SUV will be shorter and its wheelbase narrower than the truck. Compared to the current EV market, the SUV is still a leader as there is no other SUV offering up to 830 hp. The vehicle will still feature the Hummer EV CrabWalk mode, meaning that you can move it like a crab from side to side and have an easier time parallel parking.