HUMMER EV: THE STORY BEHIND EXTRACT MODE, WHICH LIFTS THE TRUCK 6 INCHES

The upcoming GMC Hummer EV is unlike any other pickup truck currently in development. With the power of a hypercar and enough off-roading hardware to make a Baja racer blush, the new Hummer promises to be a segment standout. This isn’t just a vehicle concerned with how these figures look on paper however, as the team behind the truck continue to develop new tech and features to get the best out of this all-new platform. Thanks to a recent report from the Detroit Free Press, we now have some more information about the origins of Extract Mode.

Extract Mode is one of several new features from GMC arriving with the Hummer EV. When activated, Extract Mode causes the truck’s air suspension system to raise almost six inches, for a total of 15.9 inches of ground clearance. That is a huge amount of clearance in a factory-built vehicle, which should help the electric pickup free itself from any sort of sticky situation. Thanks to the Detroit Free Press, we now know that Mike Colville is the man behind the idea.

Colville works as General Motors’ senior manager of complex feature integration, and has played a role in both the Extract Mode and Crab Mode features destined for the GMC Hummer EV. To be more specific, both features were inspired by Colville’s experience building and racing Ultra4 off-road vehicles. Colville would manually adjust the ride height of his racer before each competition, sometimes compromising other handling and ride characteristics along the way. This would not do for GMC’s new range-topper, and therefore the adjustable suspension system was adopted. Not satisfied with the standard “high” ride height, Colville developed Extract Mode to ensure the Hummer will get over anything.

When the GMC Hummer EV was announced, it was clear that the pickup was unlike any GM has ever built. That said, this hasn’t stopped employees from looking to familiar places for inspiration. Motorsports has always been a testbed for production features, from NASCAR to F1. Colville may have only raced home-built machines during his career, but that hasn’t stopped his experience from influencing one of the largest automakers in the world.