While the GMC Hummer EV will likely serve as an luxury off-road halo model for GMC, the brand’s reputation is fueled by fleets of work truck that don’t entirely fit within the Hummer EV’s eventual base price of $79,995.
What follows that opening act taking GMC electric has now been described a little more clearly: a full-size, fully electric GMC pickup.
GMC’s global vice president, Duncan Alldred, confirmed the product as part of a business update for the brand—although the timeline hasn’t yet been announced.
“GMC is confirming its intention to add an electric pickup truck to its portfolio in the future,” said a GM spokesperson to Green Car Reports. “This is in addition to its already-revealed GMC Hummer EV SUT arriving in customer hands later this year—as well as in addition to the GMC Hummer EV SUV arriving in early 2023.”
2022 GMC Hummer EV
A Chevrolet Silverado EV has been confirmed by GM for many months, and although it’s quite likely the pickup will be badged a GMC Sierra EV, GMC has options. It could potentially extend the Hummer badge to the truck—or add that to an especially off-road-savvy version.
Although the Hummer EV is shaping up to be a rather exclusive offering, the full-size electric trucks are shaping up to be more accessible. GM CEO Mary Barra confirmed in April that the Silverado EV would be “a high-volume entry.”
GM also in April confirmed that the Silverado EV, which has been teased several times and has smoother styling plus an Avalanche-like angled cutline at the front of the bed, will offer more than 400 miles of range and will be built at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant, renamed Factory Zero. Hummer EV chief engineer Al Oppenheiser reasoned out to GCR at that time that the long-range electric truck would share the Hummer EV’s “structural sandwich” approach rather than the existing Silverado’s body-on-frame design. Simply put, it’s down to packaging, and to get over 400 miles out of a full-size truck, it’s not an easy fit between frame rails.
GM chief EV officer Travis Hester with Chevrolet electric truck
Ford, for instance, has opted for a 300-mile range target for the F-150 Lightning while keeping the body-on-frame layout, but it’s not potentially working back from an electric off-roader that will tip the scales at more than 9,000 pounds.
GM has claimed to have cut development time of its electric vehicles to just 26 months—so if the GMC version had been given the green light when the Silverado EV was announced, the trucks could potentially arrive as soon as summer of 2023.
