The Hummer Edition 1 is heading our way this fall. The first all-electric pickup truck from General Motors will be a beast featuring a 200 kWh battery pack, all-wheel drive, three electric motors, 1000 horsepower, and the ability to crabwalk its way sideways. That’s all good news. What’s not such good news is the Edition 1 will tip the scales at a truly porcine 9,046 pounds, according to GM Trucks.com.
“Oh, sure,” you are probably saying. “That’s the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) including 5 passengers and a load bed full of crushed stone or steel pipe or whatever electric truck owners need to carry.” Nope. That’s the actual weight of the vehicle. The GVWR, according to The Drive, is expected to be about 10,400 lbs.
To put this all in perspective, the 2022 GMC Sierra 3500HD with a crew cab, dual rear wheels, and the LP5 Duramax Diesel only tips the scales at 8,355 pounds. That truck can carry 4,481 pounds of cargo and tow a 14,500 pound trailer. Towing capacity for the Hummer has not been officially announced yet, but it’s doubtful it is anywhere near that of the Sierra 3500HD. And now we know its carrying capacity is a relatively wimpy 1500 pounds or less.
2022 GMC Hummer EV. Image credit: GM
So what do you get for your $112,500 when you buy a Hummer Edition 1 electric pickup truck? Well, you can scoot to 60 miles per hour in 3 seconds. You can crabwalk into a parking space at work. And you might be able to go 350 miles before needing to charge the battery if you are traveling on level ground and willing to drive below the posted speed limit on the highway. Is that worth $112,500? Who knows? “There’s a sucker born every minute,” said PT Barnum. The Hummer EV may prove the accuracy of that statement once again.
The Hummer is an exercise in wretched excess for urban cowboys with more money than brains. It is also a waste of money and resources. The upcoming Cadillac Lyriq electric SUV will make do with a battery half the size of the one in the Hummer Edition 1. It will tip the scales at 5,600 pounds and have a range of around 300 miles.
EV advocates had hopes the changeover to electric car would bring more efficient, Earth-friendly vehicles to the highways and byways of the world. The Hummer EV is neither of those things. If anything, it is an affront to good taste and common sense. Then again, so was the original Hummer. GM will probably sell truckloads of them. [Nobody mentions the unseemly connotation the name Hummer suggests but you can be certain the marketing department at GM knows all about it.]
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