GMC Hummer EV goes topless in teaser video

Henry Payne
The Detroit News

The 2022 GMC Hummer electric vehicle was originally scheduled to be revealed May 20, but the COVID-19 crisis intervened. So GMC teased a topless shot instead.

A computer-simulated video of the 2022 Hummer EV pickup reveals that the four roof panels of the GMC can be removed for a fully open-air experience.

Sans ceiling, the Hummer continues its theme of “zero limits” – which also references the electric vehicle's zero-emissions and off-road capabilities. GM has resuscitated the legendary military-inspired Hummer badge as an EV as the company moves towards an all-electric future. The Hummer EV was first teased in a Super Bowl ad this year starring  LeBron James.

LeBron James introduced the long-rumored GMC Hummer EV, a battery-powered electric pickup truck, in a commercial airing on the Super Bowl.

GM showed off two versions of the Hummer EV — pickup truck and SUV — at its March 4 EV Day media event this year just as the pandemic was roiling auto industry production. GM has subsequently announced that development of its EV programs have continued uninterrupted. Though the Hummer reveal has been postponed from May 20, the vehicle is on schedule for late 2021 delivery as a 2022 model.

The video simulation — looking out on a wooded landscape under a starry nighttime sky — shows the Hummer truck, which will be the first vehicle released. The SUV will follow.

Like the Jeep Gladiator pickup, all the Hummer’s roof panels — in addition to the front compartment “T-bar” — can be removed for a fully open-air experience. Unlike the Gladiator, the Hummer's door windows are rimless, adding to the open-air experience when they are rolled down. GMC did not indicate whether the doors will be removable like a Jeep.

GMC released a teaser video showing the simulated view from a topless Hummer EV.

With no engine up front, owners will be able to stow the roof pieces in the "frunk" (front trunk).

In addition to its topless feature, GM has announced the Hummer EV will generate as much as 1,000 horsepower with a supercar-like, zero-60 mph time of 3 seconds. Based on GM’s so-called BEV3 platform, the EV will option one to three electric motors, with the monster, 1,000-horse version presumably using the tri-motor setup.

The Hummer prototypes shown to media at the EV Day featured thin, faux grilles since battery-powered vehicles don’t require a big engine radiator like their gas-powered cousins, but the EV will still be unmistakably Hummer with large, bold proportions and square wheel-arches.

The removable roof comes standard on the Hummer pickup with GMC promising an off-road package with greater all-terrain capability. That off-road edition will likely get GMC's traditional off-road AT4 badging which the company is currently rolling out to its entire lineup.

The Hummer EV is part of GM’s plan to bring 20 new EVs to market by 2023 — across all brands — on the company’s flexible, new BEV3 “skateboard” architecture that can be configured for front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive, and take battery sizes from 50kWh to 200kWh. The latter option — likely to be used on the heavy, powerful Hummer — would double the size of Tesla's top-of-the-line battery which has 300-plus miles of range.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.