Lucas Bell 
As the proliferation of electric vehicles continues to march on, more vehicle segments are starting to have battery powered options coming to the market. The electric truck market is quickly becoming one of the most contentious, despite the fact that no one has put a battery-powered truck on sale at this point. While the Rivian R1T is expected to arrive at the end of this year, and the Tesla Cybertruck the following year, General Motors has now stated that the recently announced GMC Hummer EV will be the first to market. This comes as a surprise.
This announcement was made by General Motors President Mark Ruess at a Capital Markets Day presentation for investors. That is quite a bold statement for General Motors to make, considering how long the other electric trucks coming to market have been in development. We know that GM always wanted to be the first ones to bring an electric truck to market, but now it seems that they are accelerating their timetable in order to do so.
That said, it is also possible the Ruess doesn’t consider automakers like Rivian to represent actual competition for the GMC Hummer EV. Pickup trucks are the heart and soul of the Big Three’s business in North America, and it makes sense that one of them would want to be the first one to the market. When you consider how much attention the Tesla Cybertruck garnered following its precarious debut, there is something to be said about getting product into the hands of customers before Tesla becomes synonymous with that segment. But perhaps more importantly, the GMC Hummer EV, which is expected to be sold in low volumes, Reuss claims this truck will beat the electric Ford F-150 to market.
General Motors isn’t new to battery powered vehicles, however their current electrified stable here in the states is solely populated by the Chevy Bolt EV. Looking at the level of performance that the reborn Hummer has promised to bring to market, it seems like the Bolt’s development will offer little insight as to what it takes to make a vehicle with 1,000 horsepower and 11,500 ft-lbs of torque.
While we can’t say for sure at this point that the GMC Hummer EV will be the first electric truck to come to market, General Motors is clearly looking to make a name for themselves in this space. Regardless, you should expect more information to come as in the months to come.
