Our intrepid highway tester feared he may lose the whole lot to the L.A. wildfires, however together with his house declared protected, a GMC Hummer EV SUV provided him an escape to the desert to detach from the tragedy that had unfolded round him.
I can’t look away. Each swipe brings forth new footage of properties on hearth and decimated communities throughout Los Angeles. Doom scrolling eats my days as I scan for evacuation notices and new info. Parting the blinds to look exterior makes issues worse. I dwell simply south of Altadena, town most affected by the Eaton hearth, and my window gives an unobstructed view of the glowing flames as they devour the San Gabriel Mountains.
It’s Thursday, January ninth, as this pure catastrophe enters its third day, powered by unprecedentedly potent Santa Ana winds. We’ve simply returned to our home after evacuating on Tuesday night time. As an Asthmatic, I made the decision to flee lengthy earlier than any discover from the hearth division. Two days on, the smoky air is beginning to clear as a skinny layer of ash covers the within of our house. A dense coating blankets the outside. The solar is not obstructed by smoke clouds, with streaks of sunshine and blue sky piercing by means of. Fallen bushes and branches partially block the highway house, however finally, the construction is unbroken.
We received fortunate. Firefighters had been in a position to cease the advancing flames a couple of mile north of us as they entered northern Pasadena. Many others, not simply in Altadena however throughout Los Angeles, weren’t so lucky. Now that we’re protected, my spouse and I scour the net for details about how we will assist native evacuation and animal shelters. But, as we’re deep in analysis mode, a textual content tells me that the native press fleet is dropping off a 2025 GMC Hummer EV SUV in a couple of minutes.
I knew it was coming. At the same time as GMC graciously provided to reschedule the mortgage, given the circumstances, I declined. I’d initially deliberate a multi-day highway journey into the desert to check the Hummer over freeway stretches and off-road, however that was off the desk. Nonetheless, having an enormous car round to haul or tow provides is smart at a time like this. If something, its gigantic 170-kilowatt-hour battery pack can energy my home in case of an outage.
We bounce in and head to the shelters throughout city. Traces of vehicles stretch for miles as lots of of individuals journey from Pasadena and past, their trunks stuffed with provides prepared to assist. We go to a handful and encounter the identical crowding, so we flip to social media. Numerous movies of shelter spokespeople seem, urging the general public to carry off on bringing extra objects. Their employees and volunteers are overwhelmed, unable to successfully course of and distribute all of them.
I’m amazed at how rapidly our metropolis united to assist each other. Nonetheless, I’m gutted that our first effort to contribute failed. As we head again house, my spouse decides that if extra provides gained’t assist, donating straight will. She spends the remainder of Thursday and the next Friday contributing to varied campaigns, supporting native companies destroyed by the fires, the 2025 Wildfire Aid Fund that routes sources to displaced households, and donating on to households by way of GoFundMe.
Saturday morning comes, and the sky seems deceptively clear. Nonetheless, a notification on my telephone warns that the air high quality is hazardous. It’s the primary second of solace for the reason that fires started. The burden of getting to ditch my house in the midst of the night time, the fixed worry of imminent loss, and the final destruction of my surrounding group fall on me, crushing my want to do something apart from lay on the sofa with the shades drawn. Nonetheless, I’ve nonetheless received the Hummer parked out again.
I’ve borrowed it for a narrative and really feel compelled to ship. In truth, the prospect of stepping away from this ongoing pure catastrophe, even for half a day, is simply too tempting to cross up. So I sketch a fast route on a map, taking me from Pasadena to Joshua Tree Nationwide Park and again. I pull up the air high quality and hearth danger indicators for the desert on my telephone, each are within the inexperienced. I resolve to go.
As I stroll as much as the electrical behemoth parked simply exterior my storage, I discover it’s collected a layer of ash, fallen leaves, and damaged branches in a single day, making its Meteorite Metallic paint seem nearly a shade darker. So far as off-roading SUVs go, it’s laborious to imagine that one thing this large, all 9,000 kilos of it, is powered by electrical energy. As you press the beginning button, you half count on the burble of a small-block V8 or the chatter of a Duramax, however neither comes.
As an alternative, graphics and sounds try to infuse theatrics, an anti-climatic begin for such a flashy machine. Not even its knobby set of 35-inch Goodyear Wrangler Territory AT tires make a lot of a sound. Solely the noise of cracking branches crushed below the Hummer’s immense weight enters the cabin.
At the same time as you sit behind the wheel, peering by means of the just about upright and brief windshield, you’re by no means allowed to overlook that the Hummer isn’t a run-of-the-mill SUV. The gap between driver and passenger isn’t as huge as in an H1, however reaching them nonetheless requires a stretch. As you grip the huge wheel, the size of this huge inside makes you are feeling 10 years outdated once more, such as you’ve snuck off into your dad or mum’s automobile for a make-believe drive, fabricated sound results and all.
I look forward, and its 12.3-in digital instrument cluster reads a couple of 70 % state of cost, its fill bars don’t present an correct determine, and 221 miles of vary. We’ll need to cease sooner or later to cost, however that’s an issue for future me.
A pointy right-hander strains me up with a freeway on-ramp as I strategy Interstate 210 heading east. As one does when offered with a runway and clearance for take-off, I gun it. I’ve skilled world-beating acceleration from the Lucid Air Sapphire, the Pininfarina Battista, and the Lamborghini Revuelto. Nonetheless, none is kind of as dramatic because the GMC Hummer EV SUV.
It squats violently. This electrical colossus picks up velocity in a approach one thing of its dimension shouldn’t be capable of, even with out the full-power Watts To Freedom mode engaged. Positive, there isn’t an exhaust observe to take pleasure in, however I’d commerce that any day for a small constructing that’s nonetheless faster than most sports activities vehicles. The key to this formidable efficiency is a tri-motor setup, one up entrance and two within the rear, which may ship as much as 830 horsepower and a 3.5-second 0-60 mph time.
To place that into perspective, the GMC Hummer EV SUV weighs about the identical as three McLaren 750s, but it’s solely a couple of second slower to 60 mph regardless of a surplus of solely 90 hp. It doesn’t lose steam at freeway speeds, both. Stab the accelerator and also you’ll nonetheless get a assured burst ahead, the nostril lifting towards the solar. GMC quotes a comical 11,500 pound-feet determine on the torque entrance, though that’s the pressure utilized to the wheels, not the system’s precise output. Regardless, its efficiency is past spectacular.
To preserve some semblance of effectivity, I dial again the velocity and interact Tremendous Cruise. That is GM’s hands-free driver help system for these unfamiliar, accessible on varied fashions from GMC, Cadillac, and Chevrolet. It really works on over 750,000 miles of mapped roads, disengaging when there isn’t ample information. It may even execute automated lane modifications. It’s the kind of system that is really easy to make use of and efficient that dwelling with out it once more is one thing I don’t look ahead to.
Effortlessly passing gradual site visitors on the left lane, it’s clear that the GMC Hummer EV SUV may be marketed as an off-roader, nevertheless it’s lots luxurious. The cabin is properly appointed, and past simply being spacious, it’s comparatively quiet beneath 70 mph. There’s infinite room to retailer the inevitable snacks and bottles obtained on any highway journey, and darkish bronze accents create good distinction in opposition to the black plastics.
A vibrant 13.4-inch infotainment display enhances the digital cluster properly. On the similar time, the controls you most frequently use stay mapped to bodily buttons and switches. Its heated and ventilated entrance seats are comfy for longer drives and supply respectable facet bolstering. With considerable inside area, spending lengthy intervals in its cabin by no means feels claustrophobic, even much less so for those who choice the $1,495 Infinity Roof incorporating detachable glass panels.
Whereas I threw the route for this drive collectively in Apple Maps, I rapidly migrated it to this truck’s native infotainment system. It depends on Google Maps for navigation information, which implies it really works nicely. Nonetheless, the most important profit is the myGMC cellular app which lets you add charging stops on the fly, immediately forwarding the info out of your telephone to the map within the central display. It makes monitoring what number of chargers are forward and behind you easy, considerably chopping down any vary anxiousness.
Nervousness isn’t one thing I really feel in any respect, road-tripping an EV by means of Southern California in early 2025, particularly the GMC Hummer EV SUV. It packs an enormous 170-kilowatt-hour battery pack, offering an estimated 312 miles of vary on a full cost. Nonetheless, go for the Excessive Off-Highway Bundle, and that determine will drop. Whereas that is an 800-volt system, permitting it to cost at as much as 300 kilowatts, recharging this large pack takes time and, as I quickly came upon, appreciable value.
GM automobiles lately gained entry to the Tesla Supercharger community, permitting you to cost at over 17,800 stations nationwide, bringing the whole accessible community to over 231,800 Degree 2 and DC fast-charging stations in North America. Nonetheless, you could seek the advice of the myGMC app as a result of some stations stay Tesla-only. This compatibility is comparatively new, and never all of its kinks have been labored out.
With 39 % SOC, I pulled into the primary station and grabbed the equipped NACS DC adapter, solely to search out that I had parked at a set of Tesla-only chargers. That’s my unhealthy. Nonetheless, as I’m going to a second station, the myGMC app fails to provoke a cost. The issue persists a couple of days later after I strive once more in Los Angeles. Nonetheless, I’d deliberate for a possible hiccup, so I nonetheless have sufficient vary to proceed.
The highway previous Palm Springs and as much as Joshua Tree feels such as you’ve been teleported to Mars. Epic rock formations litter the panorama as lots of of windmills punctuate by means of the desert flooring. The sky is spotless, and the moon is seen by means of mountain peaks.
Because the truck predicted, I make it to a 350 kW EVgo charger simply exterior Joshua Tree with 19 % left. It’s abandoned, and inside minutes, the GMC Hummer EV SUV is pulling an indicated 304 kW, exceeding its acknowledged restrict. The bounce from 19 to 90 % takes 48 minutes and prices $97.55. Whereas that’s nonetheless lower than it will value to gasoline a relatively sized inside combustion truck, the financial savings aren’t substantial.
As its tires cross the primary patch of desert sand, I understand I’m not enthusiastic about hearth or destruction for the primary time in days. I’m driving this big and highly effective factor and simply having enjoyable. It asks: what in case your off-roading SUV was as spacious as a van, as comfy as a luxurious automobile, however as fast as a Porsche?
The second and most important a part of that query is that this: what if it was that fast nearly anyplace? The desert gives ample room to search out out. The Hummer rips by means of washboard roads, and for those who dial again traction management and interact Off-Highway mode, it’ll drift, too. I ask my spouse to drive previous me as I snap some photographs, and I can see her smiling by means of the window. Somebody not even vaguely serious about vehicles, a lot much less large vans, is having a blast within the desert. Virtually as a lot as I’m watching this big SUV kicking up an unlimited mud cloud because it sprints previous.
Though our schedule initially has us heading house after two hours, we keep for an additional two, driving by means of the desert, stopping for photographs, and customarily having fun with a stunning day on the finish of a cluster of unhealthy ones. To my shock, she needs to maintain driving, a request by no means made after I’ve received a McLaren, Lamborghini, or Ferrari on mortgage.
But, that’s what makes the GMC Hummer EV SUV such a compelling truck. It isn’t simply quick, spacious, and comfy. It’s simple to drive. Regardless of its footprint, because of over a dozen cameras, maneuvering it’s no problem, making it approachable to anybody. The SUV takes issues additional as a result of its wheelbase is sort of 9 inches shorter than the truck’s. Mixed with an aggressive rear-axle steering system, it has the turning radius of a small sedan.
After all, the elephant within the room: It isn’t precisely probably the most elegant factor to be seen in. You gained’t be cross-shopping it with a Vary Rover or a Mercedes-Benz G-Class, however that’s not what it’s going for. With an as-tested worth of $109,415, it actually prices lower than each. Just like the BMW XM, the Hummer is a press release piece; it’s not for flying below the radar. It’s meant to be somewhat absurd, bordering on obnoxious, however that’s a part of the expertise.
As I head again in the direction of Los Angeles, to the inevitable heaviness that awaits me, I’m glad I made a decision to step away for the day. I’m happier nonetheless I’m driving this 9,000-lb, 830-hp electrical SUV. In an business usually consumed by chasing section targets and outgoing rivals, it’s simple to overlook that vehicles nonetheless should be enjoyable. Fortunately, the Hummer doesn’t.
This text appeared in our March 2025 Difficulty.
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