General Motors has officially launched the GMC Hummer EV, the veteran automaker’s answer to the Tesla Cybertruck, the Rivian R1T, and the upcoming Ford F-150 Electric. A look at the features and specs of the massive all-electric truck shows that GM means business.
At first glance, the Hummer EV looks every bit like its namesake, which, ironically enough, was one of the vehicles that ushered in the extinction of the EV1, GM’s modern electric car. It’s a behemoth of a vehicle like Hummers of years past, and it exudes toughness from the ground up. The Hummer EV has an intimidating stance, making it evident that GM is looking to establish the vehicle as a formidable force in the all-electric pickup truck market.
The Hummer EV will be offered in four trims: the Edition 1, the EV3X, the EV2X, and the EV2. The rollout of the vehicle will be done in four phases too, with the Edition 1 rolling out next year and the rest of the lineup being released at a later date — some at a significantly later date.
Hummer EV Edition 1
The Hummer EV Edition 1 will be equipped with three electric motors that provide the vehicle with 1,000 horsepower and 11,500 pound-feet of torque. The vehicle is fitted with a 200-kWh Ultium battery pack, giving it an estimated range of over 350 miles per charge. Fast charging is supported up to 350 kW thanks to its 800-volt architecture, allowing the Hummer EV to gain 100 miles of range in just 10 minutes.
Performance-wise, the Hummer EV Edition 1 is not a slouch, with GM stating that the all-electric truck will be capable of going from 0-60 mph in just 3.0 seconds thanks to a driving mode that the veteran automaker calls “Watts to Freedom.” The Hummer EV’s massive size does not mean that it’s not nimble either, with GM releasing the vehicle with 4-wheel steering features and a “Crabwalk” function, which would help the truck navigate tight spaces.
Other unique goodies are available on the Edition 1, which as an “Infinity Roof” with modular, transparent sky panels, unique badging in the interior, and a white exterior.
The Hummer EV Edition 1 starts at $112,595.
Hummer EV3X
After the Edition 1 rolls out next year, the Hummer EV3X will be released in the fall of 2022. The EV3X, just like the Edition 1, will be fitted with three electric motors, but it is estimated to have only 300+ miles of range per charge. While the vehicle is not listed with the Edition 1’s “Watts to Freedom” driving mode, it is still an impressive truck with 800 horsepower and 9,500 lb-ft of torque.
Features like Crabwalk, adaptive air suspension, torque vectoring, “Adrenaline Mode,” 4-wheel steering, and GM’s SuperCruise are standard on the Hummer EV3X.
The Hummer EV3X starts at $99,995.
Hummer EV2X
The Hummer EV2X is expected to be available on Spring 2023. Unlike the EV3X and the Edition 1, the Hummer EV2X will only be equipped with two electric motors that enable 625 horsepower and 7,400 lb-ft of torque. Similar to its EV3X sibling, the EV2X is estimated to have a range of 300+ miles per charge.
The EV2X is still quite robust with features, with still having features like Crabwalk, 4-wheel steering, and an adaptive air suspension system that allows the truck to navigate tricky, off-road terrain. It does, however, not have torque vectoring features.
The Hummer EV2X starts at $89,995.
Hummer EV2
The base Hummer EV2 will not be available until Spring 2024, making it over three years away. Like the EV2X, the EV2 has two electric motors that produce 625 horsepower and 7,400 lb-ft of torque. Despite its entry-level status, the Hummer EV2 is still well-equipped with features as well, including Supercruise, an “Adrenaline Mode” and 22″ wheels with 35″ tires.
The EV2, however, has the least range in the Hummer EV lineup, with the vehicle having a rather conservative 250+ miles of range per charge. It also lacks some key features that make the EV2X, EV3X, and Edition 1 very compelling, such as Crabwalk, adaptive air suspension, and 4-wheel steering.
The base Hummer EV starts at $79,995.
Watch GM’s unveiling of the Hummer EV in the video below.
News
Tesla makes good on its Cybercab promise in just two weeks
Tesla Cybercab riders can now pull up a rear camera view and darken the screen.
Tesla has given Cybercab passengers a way to see what is behind them, along with a way to turn the cabin screen off entirely.
Riders in Austin can now bring up a live rearview camera feed on the Cybercab’s center display in the middle of a trip. Austin rider Ethan McKanna spotted the change late Friday night, posting from a ride that “You can now open the camera to view what’s behind you in Cybercab!” His photo shows a strip of rear camera video across the top of the screen, with another Cybercab following on a bridge. Sawyer Merritt shared the image Saturday and wrote that it “sounds like” there is also a new quiet mode that darkens the entire screen for riders who want to relax, sleep, or avoid a bright display at night.
The camera view goes beyond the rear feed. Tesla UI software engineer Evan, who posts as @CarCoder, replied to McKanna with a tip: “You can also tap it to see more cameras, and swipe it up or down to hide and show.” Until now, the Cybercab only showed its rear and repeater feeds on the “Please Exit Safely” screen at the end of a ride, so passengers could check for cyclists and traffic before opening a door.
Quiet mode surfaced a day earlier. Austin rider Jackson Blatz posted a video Friday morning of the new Robotaxi interface in a Cybercab with the option. Tesla has not published release notes for either feature.
The rear camera view moved quickly from request to release. Earlier this month, Cybercab rider Dan Burkland asked Tesla to let passengers pull up the rear and repeater cameras whenever they want, “especially for peace of mind.” Evan answered “In development,” as Teslarati reported at the time. About two weeks later, riders have it.
The feature fills a gap created by the Cybercab’s design. With no steering wheel, no pedals, no mirrors and no rear window, a passenger has no natural way to glance behind the car. The eight exterior cameras that feed Tesla’s autonomy software were already on board, so the change only required software.
There is also an AI angle to how it was built. Yun-Ta Tsai, a senior staff engineer on Tesla’s AI team, quoted Merritt’s post and wrote that the “(human) camera view tuning is optimized with Grok and implements part of the algorithm by directly programming the fixed-function hardware, so I don’t even need to check the datasheet.” Tsai did not say which part of the algorithm Grok handled. Grok already plays a bigger role inside the vehicle, with Grok Bot now enabled across every Cybercab and the Model Y Robotaxi fleet after Tesla brought the agent into its cars in September.
The two features join a busy week of changes for riders in Austin, which also brought a redesigned Live Activity for iPhone and Apple Watch and live trip sharing. They also arrive as Tesla prepares the Cybercab for life outside its own fleet. On the third quarter earnings call, Lars Moravy said the company is aiming to deliver Cybercabs to customers before the end of 2026. Tesla has not said whether the camera view and quiet mode will also come to its Model Y Robotaxis.
Elon Musk
Tesla shows what Roadster drivers will see on screen before thruster activation
Tesla’s Roadster video reveals a fighter jet inspired cockpit with a 5,500 PSI thruster gauge.
Tesla has given future owners their clearest look yet at the cockpit of its next generation Roadster. In a 34 second video posted to X on Friday afternoon, the company walked through the car’s touchscreen with a caption: “Inspired by fighter jet cockpits, Roadster’s interface was designed around the pilot.”
The clip opens on a black screen with red graphics and a 3D wireframe of the car, which sits beside the Roadster’s squared off yoke. Tapping parts of the model brings up controls for the rear wing, including low drag and high downforce positions, along with a charging page with a charge limit bar and a small music player. A row of tabs along the bottom reads Home, Vehicle, Listen, Climate and Navigate.
Most of the video is spent in Track Mode. The dashboard shows a live circuit map, a list of session lap times, brake and motor temperatures, and pressure and temperature readouts for each tire. A setup page lets the driver pick Auto, Low Drag, High Downforce or Custom aero modes, adjust aero balance and brake balance, and switch stability and traction control off. Along the bottom, a status bar reads “Thruster · 5,500 PSI” next to a “Boost Ready” indicator.
That gauge ties the software to the hardware Tesla showed off near Waco, Texas on October 15. The Thrust and Rocket versions use cold gas thrusters fed by carbon overwrapped pressure vessels, and Tesla lists 0 to 60 mph times of under 0.9 seconds and under 0.59 seconds for them, as Teslarati detailed in its breakdown of the three Roadster configurations. The base Performance car relies on a fan and ground sealing system for grip, and the aero settings on screen match the active wings and suction setup covered in our look at how the Roadster generates downforce.
The Roadster layout is a departure from the rest of Tesla’s lineup. Instead of a map centered screen, the Roadster puts the car itself at the center of the home page, and Tesla’s Roadster page lists two smaller forward displays alongside the main touchscreen. Tesla has not said whether any of the Track Mode telemetry will make its way to the Model 3 Performance or other vehicles.
The interface could still change before deliveries. Elon Musk said at the event that Roadster production will begin in 2028, and Tesla says the flagship Rocket version is not approved for public road use. Reservations are open with a $50,000 payment, while Thrust is listed as a limited release and Rocket is invite only.
Those who want to see the car in person will get their first chance this weekend. The Roadster goes on display in the lobby of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles from October 24 to 27, according to Sawyer Merritt, the first time the public will be able to view it up close.
Elon Musk
Tesla reveals Optimus Academy, where robots teach themselves
Tesla has begun building production quality Optimus robots in Fremont and revealed its training plan.
Tesla has started building Optimus on the high volume line it set up inside its Fremont factory, and the company says the robots coming off it are the first that meet the bar for a real product. “The bots coming off this line are the first production-quality bots that we have manufactured,” Tesla wrote in its third quarter shareholder letter, adding that it has “proven that the current manufacturing process for Optimus is suitable for a commercial product.”
The line sits in space that built the Model S and Model X until this spring. Tesla cleared the old vehicle line in 46 days, as Teslarati reported in July, to make room for robot production sized for one million units a year. On Wednesday’s earnings call, Elon Musk said most of the equipment for that capacity is already in Fremont, with output set to climb toward roughly 20,000 robots a week as the line ramps.
Musk described the ramp as a classic S curve. “The growth of Optimus is an S curve, but the initial curve is a shallow slope,” he said. The team is now refining the robot’s AI, electromechanical design, reliability and service life, and Musk expects that work to be finished by the end of next year, when Tesla plans to start delivering Optimus to outside companies for dangerous, repetitive and around the clock jobs.
The most interesting part of the call was how Tesla plans to teach the robots. Its cars send real driving data back to the AI team from millions of vehicles, but Optimus has no fleet like that yet. “A big difference with Optimus versus the cars is we don’t have this vast fleet of cars from which we can gather training data,” Musk said. Tesla’s answer is an Optimus Academy, where 10,000 to 20,000 robots will practice a wide range of tasks and feed what they learn into the next version of the model. Every unit off the Fremont line becomes a source of that training data.
Smarter hardware is on the way too. Tesla plans to put its AI5 chip into Optimus next year, and Musk said a new Optimus video should arrive within one or two months showing the robot completing tasks driven by AI rather than preprogrammed motions. He took aim at rival humanoid demos that only run scripted routines, saying those would not hold up in the real world.
The supply chain is lining up behind the program. In September, Tesla certified Tuopu, Joyson and Sanhua as mass production partners for Optimus components. A far larger Optimus factory is also rising at Giga Texas, where drone footage from Joe Tegtmeyer showed the steel frame nearing completion, and Musk has pegged that plant’s long term target at 10 million robots a year.
Tesla executives also said Optimus production costs are trending toward the expected manufacturing cost of Cybercab, a sign the robot is being engineered for volume from the start. The hands remain the toughest piece of the design, a point Musk also made at the X Takeover event earlier this month, as Teslarati covered at the time, and that is where much of the current engineering effort is focused.
Tesla makes good on its Cybercab promise in just two weeks
Tesla shows what Roadster drivers will see on screen before thruster activation
