The “Hummer” name brings up a lot of mental images, but “electric vehicle” wasn’t one of them – until now. The debut of the Hummer EV SUT brought back the undisputed heavyweight of off-road machines, but with a few novel features to help it stand out. Well, not that it needs help standing out, thanks to its outrageous looks and overall massive size. And now there’s an SUV version offering the same off-road capability as its truckier sibling.

Think of the 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV as GM’s redemption letter for the astoundingly capable yet fuel-hungry H1 and the H2 and H3 SUVs that followed in its tracks. Now fitted with an incredibly powerful electric drivetrain, the EV SUV lets you explore the wilderness and get up to some crazy shenanigans in a more guilt-free way.

Electrically Motivated

Make no mistake – the Hummer EV SUV is a heavy beast, albeit not as heavy as its pickup brethren, if you can believe it. The SUV shaves a few pounds off of the SUT’s comparably gargantuan 9,000-pound curb weight, mainly by reducing the number of battery modules from 24 on the SUT to just 16 on the base EV2 model. Meanwhile, the EV2X, EV3X, and Edition 1 trims come with 20 battery modules – just four shy of the pickup model.

The end result is a surprisingly useful range despite the SUV’s tremendous heft. According to GM’s estimates, the Hummer EV SUV in EV2 trim offers an estimated 250 miles of driving range. The EV2X, EV3X, and Edition 1 trims offer an estimated 300 miles of range thanks to the added battery modules. Hook it up to a DC fast charger, and you’ll only have about 55 minutes to wait as the SUV goes from 20 percent to 80 percent, all while chugging down up to 300 kilowatts of power. If you’re in a hurry, you can get up to 100 miles of driving range in 14 minutes. 

Using a Level 2 charger takes significantly longer. Expect to wait up to 8 hours to go from 20 percent to 80 percent. Need to power your tools and equipment? The available Power Station lets you do just that with 120-volt power funneled through the SUV’s own charging port, provided you have the right cable and connector. Come across another EV that’s stranded out in the wilderness? There’s an available accessory cable you can use to lend up to 6 kilowatts of power to stricken EVs at a rate of 10 miles per hour of charge time.

But range isn’t the thing about the 2024 Hummer EV SUV that’ll get your motor running. Chances are it’s the sheer power you’re interested in. The Hummer EV SUV delivers a standard twin-motor layout pumping out roughly 625 horsepower. The Edition 1 trim comes with a tri-motor setup – one motor driving the front wheels, two motors driving the back wheels – that’s good for 830 horsepower and a jaw-dropping 1,200-pound-feet of motor torque. 

GMC claims that this setup can propel the burly beast from 0-to-60 in 3.5 seconds. To do that, however, you’ll need to activate the available “Watts to Freedom” feature. Let’s just say it’s an experience: you come to a complete stop, tap the traction control button twice and select the feature using the steering wheel controls. After that, the Hummer literally squats down as it prepares for a thunderous run. Simply follow the prompts, and you’re well on your way to experiencing breakneck acceleration that, frankly, shouldn’t be possible in a heavy SUV.

The Inside Scoop

Climb behind the wheel of the 2024 Hummer EV SUV, and you’ll find an interior that’s as just in-your-face as the exterior. The chunky, Tonka-tough controls and trim pieces are a direct call-back to the Hummers of old, linking an interesting, if not controversial, piece of automotive history with the electrified future. A 12.3-inch digital gauge display tells you everything you need to know about the Hummer EV SUV, while a 13.4-inch touchscreen display puts the usual infotainment features at your fingertips. 

Physical switches for the climate controls and other auxiliary features make the Hummer EV SUV a glove-friendly place to spend time in. The rotary knob just below the gear selector lets you toggle through the various adaptive air suspension and adaptive ride control modes. 

For better or worse, the SUV’s interior is the spitting image of the SUT version, even if the SUV trades the 5-foot pickup truck bed for an enclosed, carpeted cargo area. And speaking of cargo, the SUV offers a reasonable 36 cubic feet of space for whatever your trailblazing adventure calls for. Folding the rear seats expands that cargo volume to roughly 82 cubic feet. Since there’s no engine up front, you’ll get an 11-cubic-foot frunk where an undoubtedly humongous V8 would have gone.  

The SUV even shares the SUT’s most-welcoming feature – modular roof panels you can disassemble and stow away. When used in tandem with the Power Rear Drop Glass feature, you’ll create a memorable open-air driving experience. Available transparent panels let you keep the elements out of your Hummer EV SUV without sacrificing the panoramic view if you choose.

Jack of Most Trades

As befitting of what one could call the most extreme production SUV currently on the road, the 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV comes with a few eye-opening features. Take the CrabWalk feature, for instance. This feature takes advantage of the Hummer EV’s available 4-wheel steer system, allowing the SUV to crab sideways by turning all four wheels up to 10 degrees to the left or right. The idea behind it is to get past obstacles on tight trails, although it’s bound to be the one party trick you’ll constantly show your friends.

Extract Mode is another helpful feature meant to make your off-road adventures a bit less fraught. When faced with tough obstacles like boulders or water crossings, activating Extract Mode raises the Hummer EV SUV’s adaptive air ride suspension to its maximum limit. That gives you up to 6 inches of extra ground clearance to get out of scrapes without bottoming out. Of course, bottoming out isn’t too much of a problem if you’ve opted for full underbody armor – a feature that’s optional on the Edition 1 trim.

It shouldn’t surprise you that the Hummer EV SUV also comes with GM’s lauded Super Cruise hands-free driver assistance technology. This includes the convenient Automatic Lane Change feature, which should make those long-distance drives on the 200,000+ mile network of compatible roads a soothing experience.