With yesterday’s unveiling, the archetype of oversized gas guzzlers is back as a monster EV — or it will be, at least, when it eventually gets to Canada in late 2022

The shockers for 2020 just keep on coming: the GMC Hummer has not only been reinvented as an all-electric, 1,000-horsepower, $100,000-plus “supertruck,” but GM sees this off-road-ready beast’s advanced quick-charging capabilities and range as a tech-forward answer to any “negative baggage” associated with the former gas-guzzling Hummer brand image.

“From a market acceptance point of view, the EV [capabilities] really takes away any negative baggage from the Hummer name,” said Phil Brook, GMC’s vice-president of marketing, speaking today at a virtual media information session following the Hummer EV’s public debut last night.

Yes, efficiency — with an impressively long, 560-plus-kilometre estimated range — and quiet, emission-free powertrains are now strong Hummer selling points.

Canadian delivery in late 2022

Or at least they will be in the fall of 2022, when the GMC Hummer EV 3x is set to arrive in Canada, about a year after a limited-release Hummer EV Edition 1 starts production and delivery in the United States. 

When it arrives here, it will come as a six-figure EV aimed at affluent buyers who will be drawn to the appeal of owning the most muscular choice in a growing field of new electric pickups.

The Hummer’s Ultium battery — the largest member of a battery family that is a cornerstone of GM’s entire new EV strategy — will offer an estimated 200 kWh of energy to achieve its promised 560-plus kilometres of range. As well, its standard 400-volt capacity can be doubled to 800-volts for the larger sandwich-style battery configuration that uses a unique system to provide faster quick charging — an estimated 160 kms of range in 10 minutes, according to GM.

Sold out in an hour

Canada won’t receive Edition 1 models that American buyers will be offered in late 2021 — which GM says were all spoken for an hour after the reservation window opened yesterday. Instead, sales begin here when the Hummer EV 3x model arrives in both countries in late 2022.

The one difference: the 3x coming here will offer the same eye-popping 1,000 horsepower as the Edition 1, according to GM Canada, although the 3x rating now listed for the U.S. is lower, at a still massive 800 horsepower.

For comparison purposes, GMC’s current top-line Sierra Denali pickup offers 420 horsepower from a big V8 engine. So it’s clear that the Hummer EV will offer a huge bump up in on-road as well as off-road speed and power from anything the company currently offers.

Charge at up to 350 kW

According to GM, the Hummer’s 24-module battery system will be able to charge at up to 350 kW for top models. These versions will also offer what GM calls a “Watts to Freedom” acceleration mode, which is Hummer’s equivalent to Tesla’s “Ludicrous” mode. 

The Edition 1 is priced at US$112,595. Canadian pricing for the unique 3x launch model will be announced closer to its sale date, while the U.S. version will start at US$99,995. 

Successive models — with slightly more modest ranges, power and price tags — will also be added in 2023 and 2024.