When I think of EVs, I think of earth-friendly machines. And because of the eco-minded nature of EVs, I somehow imagine them to be light.
Let me clarify. I don’t consider them featherweight runabouts. Rather, I imagine they at least won’t be so heavy that they could be measured on the cosmic weight scale. Turns out, I was very, very wrong.
To that end, the forthcoming GMC HUMMER EV Pickup will weigh 9,046 pounds, according to GM-Trucks.com.
To put that into perspective, a 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon has a curb weight of 5,050 pounds (my modified Gladiator Rubicon weighs around 7,200 pounds with gear). And a 2022 GMC Sierra 3500HD with a crew cab, dual rear wheels, and the Duramax Diesel V8 weighs 8,355 pounds.
Photo: GMC
I compare the HUMMER EV to a Gladiator and a diesel dually both for scale but also for impact considerations. Any overlander is going to fill their HUMMER EV with gear, probably not 2,100 pounds of gear, like I did. But they won’t add nothing. Let’s assume an outfitted HUMMER EV Pickup with people and some mild gear will be pushing over 10,000 pounds.
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What impact will that weight have on the trails? What does recovering a 10,000-pound rig look like logistically? How long will the thing take to recharge? Suddenly I am imagining one of these things plugged into one of the Jeep trail-side chargers for 16 hours.
Photo: GMC
The thing weighs as much as one of Jupiter’s moons because of its massive battery pack. In order to get a meaningful range (around 350 miles) from a tall box on 35-inch tires, engineers had to fit it with a humongous battery pack.
I jokingly like to say that EVs suffer from the rocket equation, in which most of the mass of the thing is dedicated to its own propulsion. It’s a bit hyperbolic, but with the HUMMER EV Pickup, it doesn’t seem too far off.
Does all this scare me off the benefits of EVs, especially those off-road capable EVs? No, it doesn’t. I put down a deposit for the HUMMER EV SUV and despite this report, I am holding onto it. The future of transportation is electric. And also cosmically heavy, apparently.
Header image: GMC
