Before anything, I think it's important to talk about the historical part of the Hummer and the Humvee because these are two completely different vehicles. In fact, they're not even made by the same brand, and that's where people get confused. The M998 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, also known as the Humvee, was first introduced on the market in 1985. Well, when I say on the market, I don't mean or regular customer but for military purposes only. Some say Arnold Schwarzenegger is responsible for the introduction of the Hummer as a non-military vehicle. The Austrian actor decided to drive a Humvee to the red carpet of the movie premiere, and he got way much more attention than what he taught he was going to. Apparently, that is what let General Motors purchase the name Hummer in 1998. However, the Brand Hummer was created in 1992.

What leads us to think that Hummer is related to the Humvee is the fact that they look pretty much the same, and also the fact that the military version stayed on the market up until 2012. Since then, the Humvee has been replaced by the joint light tactical vehicle, also known as the JLTV. Nevertheless, the MV has been one of the best military vehicles of all time, and it's been on the market for almost 30 years. So what you have to keep in mind is that the Humvee brought the Hummer on the market for non-military customers. Unfortunately, the Hummer won't bring the Humvee back, but General Motors is seriously considering offering the EV Hummer as a military vehicle now.

Of course, the military Hummer would look nothing like the customer version even if we use a lot of the same components. I'm sure it would make a great military vehicle, but the real question here is to know if the army is ready to use electric vehicles. It's one thing to bring diesel on a battlefield or on a remote location when there is literally nothing. However, if a military vehicle is needed in the middle of the desert or closes to the top of a mountain, I don't think it will be easy to find him charging stations. So if you want my opening unless General Motors find a solution to that problem which could be quick-change batteries or portable mega charging stations, I don't think anything like that would be possible. However, that is my up in and as a car journalist, and I'm no military expert, so maybe General Motors in the army knows something that I don't, so just don't take my words for it.

However, where things make sense is in the use that the army is planning to make with the electric Hummer. It won't be a fighting vehicle, but it could be a reconnaissance vehicle. I mean, would a range of 600+ kilometers? This could be a good fit for the army. In fact, General Motors could build an even better battery for the army, and the military spec Hummer could have way much more range which could be pretty useful for a vehicle like this. The Hummer EV has Already proved it's able to go over pretty much any kind of tearing, and its all-wheel-drive system is pretty clever, and I'm not even talking about the crab mode, which allows the Hummer to move sideways. This is a feature that could be very useful in the army, where most of the time, you're not on any paved road. General Motors was recently involved in many projects for the army, and I'm sure if the army is interested in an EV vehicle like the Hummer, the American manufacturer will build it.

Jean-Sébastien Poudrier