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In its original military guise the Hummer (HMMWV) was an extremely capable, extremely uncomfortable, purpose built off roader that could carry troops and supplies and was often adorned with a .50 calibre cupula. The H2 had literally nothing in common with this. It was a gussied up Tahoe with huge tires, terrible aerodynamics and a 6.0L V8 engine. Gas was cheap, sentiment was low, and people bought them.
Hummer has one of the most complicated legacies of any GM subsidiary. They lacked the amazing technological innovation of Oldsmobile, or the renowned comfort of a Buick. But for a short period of time in the early 2000s, the Hummer H2 was one of the hottest selling premium full sized SUVs you could get. It was, in many ways, an instant status symbol. It was huge, it was gaudy, it would only seat 6, and none of that mattered.
However, as gas prices started to creep up and the H2 became an icon of American excess, the mood in the room shifted. Suddenly the Hummer went from something that you desperately wanted to be seen in, to something that people would make a massive judgement call about their owners just for having. The situation was not good for the Hummer brand, and even resulted in several cases of arson by environmental terrorists at Hummer dealerships. Slow fade to black.
The
F-150 Lightning:
There is nothing wrong with hot pickup trucks. In fact, we are super glad to see them coming back with a vengeance in the form of the Raptor, Ram TRX, and any baja-ready Silverados we may or may not be working on.
But when the last-gen F-150 Lightning came on the scene, the hot pickup truck wars had entered a new phase where things got really fun. The Silverado SS, the SRT-10 Dodge Ram with a full blown Viper V-10, and the Lightning all brought the capability of pickup trucks and more firepower at the disposal of your right foot than youd get in a lot of the sports cars of the day. The Lightning had 4 gears, 8 cylinders, and a supercharger belting out nearly 400 hp and 450 ft/lbs of torque, and you could still put stuff in the back of it. It even got a cameo in the original Fast and the Furious, you know, when those movies were still about cars.
The 2022 GMC Hummer:
We have to be honest, we thought this thing would be massive. We were thinking it was going to be part Tesla Cyber Truck, part road-going aircraft carrier. Turns out it is massive, just not in the way we thought it would be. The 2022 GMC Hummer is a little bit longer than a Crew Cab Colorado, but wider than a Suburban!
Its basically a brick that can crab walk.
The performance numbers are off the charts, featuring 1000 horsepower, which is going to be impressive any way you slice it, but also terrifying considering its curb weight is over 9000 pounds! Are Brembos an option?
Pair this with the Watts to Freedom mode for max power and you have a ludicrous, t-topped EV that has caught the eye of a lot of people who typically wouldnt give an EV a second look. It did this by combining a niche brand with one of the original theories of EV vehicle design- make EVs stand out! But wow are they going to be expensive. The base model is starting at 60k, which is still a pretty good value for what you get, but if you want one of the first ones, or one with all of the crazy options you are looking at spending ZR1 Corvette money. However, with that huge torque, 4wd, and wide stance, the GMC Hummer is still somehow reported to go 0-60 within range of the aforementioned big money Vettes.
Moreover, there is a distinct possibility that people will reject the new Hummer regardless of its new, less CO2 producing design because of its gas guzzling history. It may have an image problem with the people who are currently buying EVs, but stands to recruit a whole new market segment if done right. To test this theory, if the Hummer starts getting mainstream traction and people start saying, well, you know were going to run out of lithium or they use coal fired powerplants to make the electricity you know that this criticism is because of the brand, not the product or even the entire segment!
The 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
So far what we know about the newly unveiled 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning is promising. It is going to be relatively cheap in base trim, coming in at 42k, not bad for 426 hp! The torque will be generated by a dual motor AWD setup, with a range between 230 and 300 miles depending on the trim level. It will be able to tow 10,000 pounds, which is extremely impressive given its independent rear suspension. For a bit of reference a Bolt EV can allegedly tow up to 3500 lbs, it only has the one motor, and its a small hatchback. These electric motors are not messing around, they put the torque down immediately!
The real rub here is that it is a departure from the existing theory of EV design. This looks a lot like a regular F-150, but a bit more cyberpunk futuristic. The interior will also remind you a lot of the old F-150. Maybe this is the heralding of a new phase of EV design, where EVs will start to better blend in with their ICE cousins with the prices starting to come down. The F-150 Lightning is going to be getting upgraded screens in the interior, as well as some party tricks that have become synonymous with EVs including auto-pilot. However, so much of this comes down to branding. What can you call your features that will make people want to try them? As previously stated, the Hummers party mode is called Watts to Freedom (WTF) mode, and the Lightnings high-powered party mode is called Unbridled Mode, which just isn't as cool or memorable as WTF mode.
Ev Trucks in General
There are other EV pickup trucks on the horizon, but these are the first mainstream ones that we will be seeing in great quantities. The
Tesla CyberTruckand
Rivian R1tare going to be hitting a higher end of the market first and we cant wait to see how they are received. We specifically want to see if anyone uses these things like people use diesel or gasoline trucks, and specifically how well they hold up to the abuse that regular pickup trucks see from pretty much minute one of leaving the dealership. Time to see if less parts = more reliability theory is going to hold up in the real world or if it will be relegated to something that only works in a classroom, like Communism.
The real beauty of designing EVs that applies to both the GMC Hummer and F-150 Lightning is that they will be able to develop the platform as breakthroughs are made. They are extremely modular so any advancements in battery technology such as aluminum ion or solid lithium will be able to be developed and deployed for testing quickly. This will further advance EVs rapidly in the years to come, and these former gas guzzlers might be the perfect mainstream test bed.
Which one would we rather have? Oh thats easy. Give us the t-topped cinder block with a button that says WTF! We still prefer the insane EV design school that the 2022 GMC Hummer graduated Magna Cum Laude from, but we love the steps that the 2022 F-150 Lightning is poised to take when it comes to making mainstream EVs for the non-EV crowd. We like even more that we get to rub it into the pious Prius crowd with these nameplates that are all about the old ways reimagined for a nearly silent, tire-shredding future.