2023 GMC Hummer EV Pickup Reviews, Pricing & Specs

First, the size. The Hummer is not much longer or taller than its main rival, the Rivian R1T electric pick-up truck. It is, however, more than 12 centimetres wider, so much that it requires front running lights to warn other drivers of the massive machine rapidly approaching in the rearview mirror.

Our Edition 1 electric pickup tester is available only in white, but it’s a good look on the new Hummer. There is nary a curve or rounded edge on the truck. If you’ve always wanted to drive a brick, now is your chance.

The interior of the Hummer electric truck is far from luxurious, skewing more towards hard plastic utility, but the leather seats are comfortable and are both heated and cooled. Unlike other EVs, there are still plenty of physical buttons and knobs for things like HVAC controls—it hasn’t all been relegated to the centre screen.

What we noticed as soon as we pulled the Hummer out of the driveway is the weight. Sure, electric vehicles are always heavier than their internal-combustion counterparts, thanks to their battery packs. But GMC has reached the rate of diminishing returns when it comes to battery size, range, and weight. The Hummer EV pickup has a ridiculously large 205-kWh battery pack, pushing the truck’s curb weight up to nearly 4,100 kilograms (just north of 9,000 pounds). Granted, that battery can keep you on the road for 560 kilometres, but the similarly sized Rivian has a 135-kWh battery pack with up to 566 kilometres of driving range and weighs roughly 900 kilograms (2,000 pounds) less than the Hummer.

If your end-goal is range, then you’ll be happy. But when you look at what living with a battery that large means, things get a bit more dicey. The good news is that the Hummer’s 800-volt system can take advantage of ultra-fast charging with a peak rate of 300 kW. GMC says that’s quick enough to get 160 kilometres of range in 10 minutes. However, you’ll have to make sure the battery is conditioned to receive that quick of a charge, a process that can take up to 30 minutes. And, even with the battery properly conditioned, you won’t get a charge that fast when it’s cold. Further, you also have to find a charger capable of delivering a charge that fast. Sure, Electrify Canada has 350-kW chargers, but they are plagued with reliability issues and can rarely deliver a consist charge at 300 kW.

Charging at home is a slightly better scenario. The Hummer has an 11.5-kW on-board charger that converts the AC power from your house into the DC power accepted by the battery. That’s pretty quick, but it will still take 12 hours to fill up that electron bank.

However, once the rig is charged, it can be pretty entertaining to drive on road. The powertrain consists of three electric motors producing a combined 1,000 horsepower and north of 1,000 lb-ft of torque. GMC says the Hummer has 11,500 lb-ft of torque, but the company is talking about axle torque, which is not quite how we normally talk about this spec. Regardless, it’s enough to push the Hummer from 0-60 miles per hour in a GMC-estimated three seconds when the truck is placed in the Watts to Freedom mode. (0 to 100 km/h figures haven’t been provided.) Otherwise known as WTF mode, this launch control system is incredibly fun, inducing maniacal laughter at every go.

It’s surreal piloting a vehicle this heavy, this quickly. It’s absolutely terrifying getting the Hummer EV to stop. Bringing this much weight to a stop takes much longer than most people think. In normal use you can use one-pedal driving and let the brake regen slow you down, or you can use the mechanical brakes. Either way, be prepared to leave plenty of room in front of you. If you drive a Hummer EV, your tailgating days are over.

The truck has a few other party tricks, especially when it comes to off-road capabilities. Four-wheel drive (4WD) and four-wheel steering gives it surprising maneuverability on a tight trail, reducing the turning circle to just a smidge over 11 metres. However, if you really get into trouble, you can always initiate CrabWalk. Here, the truck will use its four-wheel steering to move the front and rear wheels diagonally and get itself out of a tight situation. If things get really bad, the Extract drive mode will use the adaptive air suspension to raise the vehicle up to 40 centimetres of ground clearance to get yourself out of whatever problem you’ve created for yourself. However, in both Off-Road mode and Terrain mode, ground clearance is closer to 30 centimetres.

It’s not all puppies and rainbows when the Hummer goes off-pavement. Sure, there is a front skid plate, but this electric supertruck does not have a spare tire. GMC says it’s a packaging issue, and includes a tire inflation kit instead. That might be fine if you get a small puncture, but it won’t fix a rip in the sidewall, which is where most tire failures occur when driving off-road. This omission is egregiously bad.

The Hummer comes with a front and rear locker for maximum traction when the going gets rough. The rear locker engages immediately but you must push and hold the front locker button for five seconds before it locks up. Why? When drivers need a front locker, they likely need it immediately. No other truck with a front locker requires a long button push and this little quirk can be the difference between making it up a steep and rocky slope or being stuck in the middle with all momentum lost.

Up front is a 320-litre frunk where the roof panels are stored when rolling topless. This front trunk has tie-downs and a 12-volt outlet, but there is no gear tunnel as in the Rivian R1T. The five-foot bed is closed with GMC’s super-cool, six-way Multi-Pro tailgate and an electric tonneau cover.

You’d think a truck like this would have great payload and towing capabilities, but both numbers fall way short of the R1T. The GMC Hummer EV pickup can carry 590 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of payload and tow 3,400 kilograms (7,500 pounds). Meanwhile the Rivian can haul 798 kilograms (1,760 pounds) and has a towing capacity of almost 5,000 kilograms (11,000 pounds). Quite the difference.

If you do want to tow, the Hummer has a mode for that to optimize the powertrain. However, the hitch is mounted pretty high in the rear. We hooked up a trailer and, even on the truck’s lowest ride-height setting, it sat at a pretty steep rake. We didn’t have a drop hitch, so we decided not to tempt fate. You’ll definitely want to purchase an adjustable drop hitch to keep your trailer level.

If the latest and greatest advanced driving assist systems are your bag, the Hummer can be had with the General Motors Super Cruise driver assistance system. This hands-free driving system takes care of throttle, braking and steering on designated roads and highways. All the driver needs to do is keep eyes on the road and the truck does the rest. It can even initiate lane changes to the left to pass a slower vehicle or to make room for merging traffic. However, we couldn’t bring ourselves to trust the braking system when it needed to stop for sudden traffic. We weren’t prepared to entrust to a computer with slowing such a heavy vehicle that will seriously damage people and cars in the event of a collision.

The 13.4-inch infotainment touchscreen has got some nifty graphics and has Google maps built in. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity are both here as well. Drivers are also treated to a digital gauge cluster that can be reconfigured multiple ways. As with the centre screen, graphics are clear and sharp.

You’ll be grateful for the standard blind-spot monitoring system. It’s tough to see just what is over your right shoulder, so signal early, check those mirrors, and pay attention to any warning bells lest you accidentally run a motorcycle or MX-5 off the road.

The truck’s rear emergency braking is great as well, if a bit sensitive, as we found when backing over a driveway with a five-centimetre lip. Also on tap are lane-keeping assist and forward collision avoidance. With a truck as under-braked as the Hummer, that last one is nice to have.

Also crucial to have is the Ultravision suite of 18 cameras to keep on eye on this bad boy. This standard feature includes two waterproof underbody cameras so you always know if you’ll clear that rock or not. Ultravision can also provide a top-down view of the Hummer EV, great for seeing just how much clearance you have in tight spaces.

The Hummer EV Edition 1 has not yet been rated by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) or National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

In the end, it’s the truck’s poor efficiency that makes it a no-go. It’s tough to justify spending north of $125,000 when the Hummer demanded 41.7 kWh/100 km during our time with it. Even in the best driving scenarios expect to burn 37 kWh/100 km. Meanwhile the lighter, similarly sized Rivian R1T gets by on 27 to 33 kWh/100 km depending on the trim, and the Ford F-150 Lightning is in the 30 to 31.5 kWh/100 km range.

If you care about efficiency, leave the Hummer pickup truck behind and snag a Rivian or a Lightning. If you’re a General Motors fan, wait for the Chevrolet Silverado EV, which will run on the same Ultium battery and platform and feature many of the same cool tricks as the Hummer but will likely weigh less and have better efficiency.

Note: Images show a US model.