FIRST DRIVE: 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV 3X: Electric Off-Roading in Texas

Tell people you have a Hummer, and some might picture an urban assault donk on 24” rims. But Hummer is now a model in the GMC brand lineup. The first offering was a pickup, and now is an SUV, but both are fully electric.

With more off-road-centric EVs hitting the market, such as the Rivian R1S and Tesla Cybertruck, GMC has set out to make its Hummer EV SUV as capable as possible with legit off-road amenities.

My wife, and fellow OVR Feature Editor, Mercedes Lilienthal, spent a few days with a 2024 Hummer EV SUV 3X with the extreme off-road package while in Texas for the recent eclipse. We took it on the highway, wheeled it off-road, and even camped atop it to see whether it was up to the EV off-road and overlanding task.

Legit Off-Road Options
Like the Hummer H1 and H2 of yore, the Hummer EV SUV is massive. While it weighs nearly 1,000 lbs. less than its pickup cousin, it still tips the scales at a portly 8,660 lbs.—close to the heft of a Ford F-450 dually. Part of this is due to its big 170 kWh battery pack. But its overall dimensions are still massive.

Although it’s a tech-heavy behemoth, it has some legit old-school off-road features, thanks to its extreme off-road package. This includes locking front and rear axles, ball-spline halfshafts, rock sliders, LT305/70R18 Goodyear Wrangler Terrain M/T mud-terrains (nearly 35”), and skid plates. The EV SUV also has front and rear recovery points, and “gearing” to simulate low range. It has a fully independent suspension, but it offers up to 16” of ground clearance and 13” of suspension travel.

On-Road Readiness
We drove our Afterburner Tintcoat (e.g. orange) tester from the Dallas Metroplex to east Texas enroute to Barnwell Mountain Recreational Area to put this sophisticated brute to the test. This included a 139-mile drive along Interstate 30 to Mount Pleasant for a recharge.

This 3X model has three electric motors for a total of 830 horsepower and a claimed 11,500 lb.-ft. of torque (which isn’t wholly accurate, but there’s tons of twist regardless). GMC claims this SUV can rocket to 60 MPH in as little as 3.5 seconds and I believe it. Some publications tested it to 100 MPH in just 8.5 seconds and sprinting the ¼ mile in under 12 seconds. Top speed? Apparently 114 MPH. While we stayed within reasonable highway rates, even from 70 MPH this thing will snap your neck if you floor it.

Being electric, there isn’t any engine sound, but the aftermarket rooftop tent and mud-terrain tires produced noticeable wind and tire noise. The highway ride is very firm and trucklike; the seats are a bit hard and flat, but it’s not uncomfortable.

The coolest on-road feature is the hands-free Super Cruise which provides semi-autonomous driving on some roads. Put on your turn signal, and it’ll even switch lanes for you. Plus, with just under 300 miles of range, you can get to lots of locales with minimal range anxiety.

When we got to Mount Pleasant, TX, we recharged at an Electrify America charging station, charged for about an hour—from 44% to 100%—and made our way to Barnwell for some off-road action.

An Emissions-Free Dirt Devil
Once inside the off-road park, we employed Air Down Mode to bring the tires from 45 psi to 28 psi. This smart system lets you set your prescribed pressure, then you manually air down each tire until the horn beeps. This lets you know you’ve reached your desired inflation level—such a good use of the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS)! Using the air suspension, we raised up the vehicle to one above normal, and hit the dirt.

With the optional rear steering set to auto, we dipped into the trail system. The rear steering, which turns the wheels up to 10° in either direction, makes the Hummer feel more like a compact 4WD. In fact, the turning radius is the same as a 2024 Subaru Crosstrek, despite the Hummer being over 30” longer. This let us navigate tighter trails with more confidence and provided admirable maneuverability over obstacles.

We put the fully independent suspension’s 13” of travel to the test multiple times, three-wheeling it on occasion. But when a wheel lifted, it would send traction to the right places and we never fully high-centered.

That said, we employed its rock sliders more than once. Had we become high-centered, there’s an “Extract Mode” that lifts the vehicle up nearly 6” over the normal height, providing 16” of total ground clearance. We never needed it. The Hummer EV SUV has respectable off-road angles including claimed 49.6° approach, 49° departure, and 34.4° breakover angles along with 32” fording depth.

Exploring Barnwell
Barnwell Mountain is 1,850 acres, so there were many trails. They’re rated on a scale of 1 to 5. We didn’t run anything more than a 3, but I’m confident it could tackle more difficult tracks. We still had to get to camp and back to Dallas, so we didn’t want to risk damage. (Plus, it belongs to GMC.)

Barnwell had a lot of narrow trails with significant foliage alongside them, but we tried to keep the pinstriping to a minimum. Thankfully, that excellent rear steering really came into play here.

Terrain Mode offered optimal control over rough terrain. It employs one-pedal driving. Rarely do you need to use the brakes; instead, you let off the accelerator. The braking can be customized to your liking, too. And when you stop on a hill, it’ll hold the Hummer in place. It also provides maximum torque and traction. We drove in the L setting (vs. D), which acts like low range.

One trail, which was only rated a two, had a super narrow section with an eight-foot-deep trench and a steep drop to enter it. I got out and walked it, and while I know the Hummer could’ve done it, we opted to pass. Again, rear-steer to the rescue: we were able to turn around in a not-so-wide spot on the trail and head back the way we came.

Another rear-steer feature is CrabWalk. This highly anticipated feature lets the rig drive diagonally. While it looks cool, I didn’t find it useful on the trails we drove.

We got some very curious (if not amazed) glances from onlookers when wheeling. People took pictures of the rig both parked and fully articulated. We were even offered words of caution from people who probably thought we were newbies bringing our $120,000 electric 4x4 to an off-road park.

Total Eclipse of the Park
After finding an optimal viewing area and praying to the solar gods for the thick clouds to part and offering up an animal sacrifice (Texas BBQ the night before), at 1:44pm the eclipse came into full view. Birds stopped chirping which made the park nearly whisper quiet, sans mooing cows from a nearby ranch.

The area became oddly lit offering a strange aura if just for a handful of seconds. This is what tens of thousands of people had traveled to Texas for, and the weather cooperated, albeit briefly.

Shortly thereafter, we packed up our camera gear, put the Hummer into the normal driving mode, and hit the road. It turns out we were in a flood watch with a 100% chance of severe storms in the area. Rather than stick it out in our rooftop tent again at camp, we caved and headed back to Dallas. Sometimes safety is more important than camping.

The Hummer As An EV Overlander
EVs and overlanding are not mutually exclusive, at least yet. However, if you carefully plan your route around chargers, you might just be surprised—even now. The Hummer EV SUV 3X allowed us to drive to the dirt, get to camp, back to the dirt, and up to a charger with plenty of range to spare.

However, this took proper planning. And yes, we were going to an off-road park, not the middle of some BLM land in Nevada, for example. But even Mount Pleasant, TX, population 16,015, isn’t exactly a sprawling metropolis or super near a big city.

This experience showed me that the more we researched the EV charging infrastructure, the more we realized there were chargers in places we didn’t expect. But you had to take into account the charger’s speed (there’s a huge difference between 50 kW and 350 kW), or even if the chargers were functional.

Charging: 50% Success Rate
During our multi-day EV engagement, we attempted to plug into eight chargers. However, four of them didn’t work. Some wouldn’t take our card, some would error out, some cords wouldn’t even reach the Hummer’s charging port. But a 50% success rate isn’t great. We went as far as to call EVgo to use a charger, only to be told that station was offline. Thankfully, in that last case, we were simply trying to top off the battery before leaving the rig at DFW airport.

Talking to several EV owners on this trip, we were told that, unless you have a Tesla and can use the Supercharger network, the country’s charging infrastructure simply isn’t all that reliable … yet. I believe this will likely change as EVs become more popular.

The Hummer EV SUV: Big on Size, Capability, and Personality
I’d never spent this much time with an electric vehicle. I’d driven EVs around town and for short jaunts through cities. But we traveled over 500 miles in total with this Hummer, and carefully planned our route. Short of a couple minor hiccups with the vehicle’s mode selection system, getting used to the electric tailgate, and figuring out how the tech worked, the Hummer EV SUV provided a fun (and educational) experience on and off the pavement.

Honestly, I liked this weighty wheeler more than I expected I would. Part of that is because it drives smaller than it looks. It’s easy to maneuver, capable off road, comfortable, and has a range that won’t leave you with too much anxiety.

With its boxy shape, screaming orange paint, and knobby tires, this EV had loads of character and personality to match is impressive off-road capability. If you have an appetite for adventure, this rig has the potential to satisfy.

Will EV off-roading and overlanding become as popular as it is with ICE vehicles? Time will tell. But plan your route accordingly, and the Hummer EV SUV can be a worthwhile travel companion no matter where you take it.

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