A rumor that General Motors was thinking about reviving Hummer as an electric vehicle brand was published in Bloomberg in June. It’s an exciting proposition, but the news faded away because of the anonymous sources and lack of confirmation from the automaker. Now, Reuters is reporting that another source has confirmed a possible EV Hummer, and there’s a big reason to take it more seriously this time around.
The new revelation comes amid the United Auto Workers strike with GM. In fact, the current deal agreed upon by the company and the union leaders — which will be voted on this Friday — is the reason for the revival of the EV Hummer rumor. As Reuters writes, part of the proposed deal is a $7.7 billion investment in U.S. plants over the next four years, and that includes the “BT1 electric truck/SUV program” at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant.
According to the anonymous sources Reuters spoke to, those electric vehicles include a GMC pickup and a Cadillac SUV, among others. As for the Hummer, one source said it is “under consideration.” That is similar to the language used back in June, when the civilian version of the military Humvee was reportedly part of a “What If” exercise at GM; in other words, what if we brought back the Hummer name in our new electric vehicle lineup?
For starters, Reuters quotes Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at Auto Forecast Solutions, who said, “Putting a Hummer badge on anything is a great idea for General Motors because half the marketing is already paid for.” So GM might be able to increase interest, and assuage some consumer worries about EVs, by using a household name.
But more important than the newsworthy, oxymoronic idea of an electric Hummer and the potential revival of a historic brand is the fact that gas-powered SUVs are currently one of the biggest contributors to our planet’s climate crisis. According to an alarming new report from the International Energy Agency, “SUVs were the second-largest contributor to the increase in global CO2 emissions since 2010 after the power sector, but ahead of heavy industry … as well as trucks and aviation.”
Apparently the climate crisis is not enough to convince people not to buy SUVs. So we might be facing an if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em phase where big electric vehicles like Hummer (paired with electricity from renewable sources, of course) are what get us back on track to lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
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