Sam Krahn 
General Motors doesn’t just want their GMC Hummer EV to be good off-road for an electric vehicle, but great off-road full stop. The development team has been busy in Moab lately, one of the greatest off-road playgrounds in the US. That let us get our first look at the Hummer’s wild CrabWalk system in action on the public roads. Now, we’ve got more spy shots to share thanks to the Hummer EV Page Facebook group, and the interesting thing here isn’t the GMC Hummer EV prototypes themselves, but rather what they are testing with. And it’s none other than the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2, one of the greatest off-road trucks on sale today.
It’s common to see automakers testing prototype vehicles alongside some current production models as part of their benchmarking system. We saw this with the C8 Corvette Z06, which has been spied testing with the Porsche 911 GT2 RS. It’s just the same here, as General Motors needs to ensure their $100,000 EV truck is as capable off-road as their $50,000 pickup, if not more so. It wouldn’t be a good look the other way around.
Given the benchmarking visible here and the intense trails Moab is known for, we have no doubt the GMC Hummer EV will live up to its capability promises. But it will go about that off-road performance in a much different way to the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2.
The Colorado ZR2 relies on exceptional hardware for its skill. The Multimatic Dynamic Suspensions Spool Valve (DSSV) shocks are some of the most advanced on the planet, and they work together with capable tires, a lift and 4×4 system to deliver great performance off-road. The Hummer EV on the other hand will focus on technology and features to get through rough terrain. The aforementioned CrabWalk mode is just one, as there are several other off-road drive modes each catered to specific situations.
While it’s great to see the GMC Hummer EV in the wild testing, especially with such company. But we are still hoping to see some video of the Hummer actually doing the off-roading, whether it be a spy video or content directly from GM.
