Our intrepid street tester feared he may lose every part to the L.A. wildfires, however along with his residence declared secure, 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 fireplace and decimated communities throughout Los Angeles. Doom scrolling eats my days as I scan for evacuation notices and new data. Parting the blinds to look outdoors makes issues worse. I reside simply south of Altadena, the town most affected by the Eaton fireplace, and my window supplies an unobstructed view of the glowing flames as they eat 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 residence. A dense coating blankets the outside. The solar is not obstructed by smoke clouds, with streaks of sunshine and blue sky piercing by way of. Fallen bushes and branches partially block the street residence, however in the end, the construction is undamaged.
We acquired fortunate. Firefighters had been in a position to cease the advancing flames a few 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 secure, my spouse and I scour the online 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. Whilst GMC graciously provided to reschedule the mortgage, given the circumstances, I declined. I’d initially deliberate a multi-day street journey into the desert to check the Hummer over freeway stretches and off-road, however that was off the desk. Nonetheless, having a large car round to haul or tow provides is sensible at a time like this. If something, its gigantic 170-kilowatt-hour battery pack can energy my home in case of an outage.
We leap in and head to the shelters throughout city. Traces of vehicles stretch for miles as a whole lot 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 gadgets. 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 residence, my spouse decides that if extra provides received’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. Nevertheless, 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 residence in the midst of the night time, the fixed concern of imminent loss, and the final destruction of my surrounding group fall on me, crushing my want to do something aside from lay on the sofa with the shades drawn. Nevertheless, I’ve nonetheless acquired 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 fireplace 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 outdoors 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 virtually a shade darker. So far as off-roading SUVs go, it’s exhausting to imagine that one thing this huge, all 9,000 kilos of it, is powered by electrical energy. As you press the beginning button, you half anticipate 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.
Whilst you sit behind the wheel, peering by way of the just about upright and quick windshield, you’re by no means allowed to overlook that the Hummer isn’t a run-of-the-mill SUV. The space 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 dimensions of this huge inside makes you’re feeling 10 years previous once more, such as you’ve snuck off into your mother or father’s automotive for a make-believe drive, fabricated sound results and all.
I look forward, and its 12.3-in digital instrument cluster reads a few 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 method 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 sort of as dramatic because the GMC Hummer EV SUV.
It squats violently. This electrical colossus picks up pace in a means one thing of its measurement shouldn’t be capable of, even with out the full-power Watts To Freedom mode engaged. Positive, there isn’t an exhaust be aware 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 might 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 few 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 pace and have interaction Tremendous Cruise. That is GM’s hands-free driver help system for these unfamiliar, accessible on numerous fashions from GMC, Cadillac, and Chevrolet. It really works on over 750,000 miles of mapped roads, disengaging when there isn’t adequate knowledge. It may even execute computerized lane adjustments. It’s the kind of system that is really easy to make use of and efficient that residing with out it once more is one thing I don’t sit up for.
Effortlessly passing sluggish visitors on the left lane, it’s clear that the GMC Hummer EV SUV could be marketed as an off-roader, but it surely’s a lot luxurious. The cabin is properly appointed, and past simply being spacious, it’s comparatively quiet under 70 mph. There’s limitless room to retailer the inevitable snacks and bottles obtained on any street journey, and darkish bronze accents create good distinction in opposition to the black plastics.
A brilliant 13.4-inch infotainment display screen 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 snug for longer drives and provide respectable aspect bolstering. With ample inside house, spending lengthy durations in its cabin by no means feels claustrophobic, even much less so when you possibility 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 knowledge, which suggests it really works properly. Nevertheless, the most important profit is the myGMC cell app which lets you add charging stops on the fly, immediately forwarding the information out of your telephone to the map within the central display screen. It makes monitoring what number of chargers are forward and behind you easy, considerably slicing down any vary nervousness.
Anxiousness isn’t one thing I really feel in any respect, road-tripping an EV by way of Southern California in early 2025, particularly the GMC Hummer EV SUV. It packs a large 170-kilowatt-hour battery pack, offering an estimated 312 miles of vary on a full cost. Nevertheless, go for the Excessive Off-Street 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 huge pack takes time and, as I quickly discovered, appreciable value.
GM autos 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. Nevertheless, you should 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 seek out that I had parked at a set of Tesla-only chargers. That’s my unhealthy. Nevertheless, as I am going to a second station, the myGMC app fails to provoke a cost. The issue persists a couple of days later after I attempt once more in Los Angeles. Nonetheless, I’d deliberate for a possible hiccup, so I nonetheless have sufficient vary to proceed.
The street 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 a whole lot of windmills punctuate by way of the desert ground. The sky is spotless, and the moon is seen by way of mountain peaks.
Because the truck predicted, I make it to a 350 kW EVgo charger simply outdoors Joshua Tree with 19 % left. It’s abandoned, and inside minutes, the GMC Hummer EV SUV is pulling an indicated 304 kW, exceeding its said restrict. The leap from 19 to 90 % takes 48 minutes and prices $97.55. Whereas that’s nonetheless lower than it could value to gasoline a relatively sized inner combustion truck, the financial savings aren’t substantial.
As its tires cross the primary patch of desert sand, I notice I’m not fascinated about fireplace or destruction for the primary time in days. I’m driving this large and highly effective factor and simply having enjoyable. It asks: what in case your off-roading SUV was as spacious as a van, as snug as a luxurious automotive, however as fast as a Porsche?
The second and most vital a part of that query is that this: what if it was that fast nearly wherever? The desert supplies ample room to seek out out. The Hummer rips by way of washboard roads, and when you dial again traction management and have interaction Off-Street 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 way of the window. Somebody not even vaguely occupied with vehicles, a lot much less huge vans, is having a blast within the desert. Nearly as a lot as I’m watching this large SUV kicking up an infinite mud cloud because it sprints previous.
Though our schedule initially has us heading residence after two hours, we keep for an additional two, driving by way of the desert, stopping for photographs, and customarily having fun with a beautiful day on the finish of a cluster of unhealthy ones. To my shock, she desires to maintain driving, a request by no means made after I’ve acquired 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, due to 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 essentially the most elegant factor to be seen in. You received’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 a little bit absurd, bordering on obnoxious, however that’s a part of the expertise.
As I head again in 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 trade usually consumed by chasing section targets and outgoing rivals, it’s simple to overlook that vehicles nonetheless must be enjoyable. Fortunately, the Hummer doesn’t.
This text appeared in our March 2025 Challenge.
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