{"id":29031,"date":"2022-04-08T11:28:34","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T15:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=29031"},"modified":"2022-04-08T11:28:34","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T15:28:34","slug":"ev-omg-eight-cool-things-about-the-gmc-hummer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/ev-omg-eight-cool-things-about-the-gmc-hummer","title":{"rendered":"EV OMG: Eight cool things about the GMC Hummer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phoenix<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 The GMC Hummer EV is a big kid\u2019s toy.<\/p>\n

The first electric vehicle on General Motors\u2019 Ultium battery sled, it offered a huge canvas on which its team of engineers and designers could experiment with new technology. Its headliner features are well known. There\u2019s Crabwalk mode, currently being showcased by celebrity basketball player LeBron James in national ads (and attracting celebrity buyers like actor Ashton Kutcher and chef Wolfgang Puck).<\/p>\n

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All-wheel-steer enables tight turning radiuses to get you out of trouble off-road \u2014\u00a0or in a Meijer parking lot. And Watts-to-Freedom mode will accelerate you to 60 mph in just 3 seconds.<\/p>\n

But there is so much more. Here are eight\u00a0more cool things\u00a0in the supertruck\u2019s toy box:<\/p>\n

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1) Moonshot.<\/strong>\u00a0Vehicle development programs usually take four years. The Hummer program launched in March\u00a02019 with the impossible goal of delivering a supertruck by the end of 2021. That’s 2\u00bd years. The production team called it GMC\u2019s \u201cmoonshot.\u201d To commemorate the feat, the Hummer EV is littered with moon references.<\/p>\n

A map of the Sea of Tranquility, where Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon from the Apollo 11 Lunar Module on July 20, 1969, is found in numerous places, including the instrument display, available hood graphic, floor mats\u00a0and Bose stereo door speakers. Astronaut footprints litter the dashboard. And an American flag is planted just above the C-pillars.<\/p>\n

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2) Light show.<\/strong>\u00a0Signature LED running lights are nothing new, but the way Hummer does them is. The pickup lights up the six, H-U-M-M-E-R blocks on the front facia with a thin, white film made up of microscopic lenses that reflect the illumination from recessed LED lights. \u201cWhen we saw the technology, we thought we had to make use of it,\u201d said chief exterior designer Brian Malczewski, whose resume includes some other\u00a0cool exteriors like the Corvette.<\/p>\n

3) Go topless.<\/strong>\u00a0An off-road-focused vehicle, Hummer gets you closer to nature with four removable roof panels. Blessedly lightweight, they are easily extracted with rotating latches \u2014 then easily stored in the front eTrunk (or frunk, as EV owners like to say). The rear window can also be automatically rolled down. Unlike the Jeep Wrangler, however, the front windshield does not flop down \u2014 and neither can you take the doors off.<\/p>\n

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4) Tri-wiper.<\/strong>\u00a0That upright front windshield offered challenges for wiper coverage given the truck\u2019s narrow greenhouse and expansive width (measuring 87.6 inches wide, the pickup requires three amber roof lights, typical of heavy-duty trucks). So the Hummer is outfitted with three blades.<\/p>\n

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5) Cameras.<\/strong>\u00a0Like the mansion you\u2019ll store the Hummer in, the EV gets lots of camera angles\u00a0to monitor things. Eighteen camera views allow you to keep an eye on everything from the ground\u00a0ahead to the rocks beneath, to the tires on each side.<\/p>\n

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6) Jacked.<\/strong>\u00a0Thanks to its air suspension, Hummer has 9.5 inches of variable ride height. From 10 inches of ground clearance in Normal mode, the beast can crouch to 6.5 inches off the turf for insane, Watts-to-Freedom launches. Or it can be jacked up 16 inches in Extract mode when the off-road terrain gets really sketchy.<\/p>\n

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7) Unreal.<\/strong>\u00a0GMC hired New York-based Perception, famous for its design work in Marvel films like “Iron Man” and “Black Panther,” to pen Hummer\u2019s user experience in the instrument and infotainment displays. Using Epic\u2019s Unreal game engine \u2014 a familiar tool in the gaming world \u2014 Perception designed rich graphics like the intro sequences to Terrain and Watts-to-Freedom modes.<\/p>\n

8) The sound of silence.<\/strong>\u00a0Hummer is an electric vehicle, but chief engineer Al Oppenheiser and team were determined that it come with enhanced sonic emotion (this is a guy who built the blood-curdling Camaro V-8, after all). So GMC partnered with Bose to create\u00a0Vehicle Sound Enhancement (EVSE). Using the truck\u2019s 14-speaker sound system, EVSE sends subtle, custom-designed propulsion sounds into the cabin with each drive mode \u2014 and also hides undesirable motor sounds. Normal mode is quiet, but select Terrain mode while off-roading, for example, and you get a low, rumbling soundtrack.<\/p>\n

EVSE is most pronounced with\u00a0Watts-to-Freedom. Various audio cues fill the cabin, including a mix of electric guitar riffs while the Bose subwoofer creates vibrations to prepare occupants for launch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sense of sound is an important element,\u201d said Oppenheiser. \u201cWe looked to Bose for expertise in helping balance the appropriate level of acoustic precision with driver input, yet not compromising the enjoyment of a near-silent EV experience.\u201d<\/p>\n