Decades ago the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, otherwise known as the Humvee, made its name on the battlefield. It was so noteworthy that it spawned production models built for the public and today has been reincarnated as the GMC Hummer EV. Now, in a move that seemingly brings the brand full circle, the United States Army has procured one production Hummer EV for testing.
While it’s obvious that the commercial automotive market is making a transition to electrified vehicles, government entities tend to move much slower. Still, we’ve seen some governmental agencies begin to make the switch and now the Army is following suit. Last week, we reported that upstart EV maker Canoo had been awarded a government contract to supply one vehicle to the Army for evaluation and now it seems that GM Defense, a subsidiary of GM, has also made that list according to a report in the Detroit Free Press.
While the company could’ve selected any EV in its arsenal, the Hummer EV is the obvious choice. In short, the big supertruck will provide the government with another potential candidate for future contracts. According to a document related to the deal, “The purpose of this requirement is to procure a new light to heavy duty Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) or series-hybrid electric wheeled vehicle, for Government analysis and demonstration.”
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So at this point, there’s no specific plan for what this Hummer EV or future ones would be used for. Despite that, the same document lays out what the Army is looking for long-term citing the “need to incorporate a scalable and adaptable capability that reduces reliance on fossil fuels both in the operational and garrison environments for the Army. The vehicle will also demonstrate the ability to effectively generate, store and distribute power to the Soldier.”
“Leveraging GM’s advanced technology, this demonstration will prove to our U.S. Army customer what an all-electric supertruck can do and how the underlying technology can be leveraged for future defense needs, whether on an installation or in a tactical environment,” said the president of GM Defense, Steve duMont.
GM Defense has already won a number of government contracts since it was created in 2017 so now we await to see what the Army makes of the Hummer EV.
