The GMC Hummer EV presents what I like to think is a very American solution to getting as much range as possible out of an electric vehicle: Use the biggest battery you can muster. It’s like Hot Rodding 101, but with a big battery instead of a big engine. And on the top-spec Hummer EV3X SUV, you get up to 312 miles (502 km) of EPA-rated range from its 20-module, 170 kWh battery.
But that’s an optimistic number even when the weather is good. How about when it’s not good?
Tim Esterdahl of the Pickup Truck + SUV YouTube channel found out in a trial by fire (or snow?) this weekend when he left his town in Nebraska to catch a flight in Denver 188 miles away. Normally, the Hummer EV would be more than up for the task, but Nebraska in January brings weather that’s far from optimal for electric driving. The temperatures there have been in the teens these past few days and into the negatives at night.
Making that flight in such weather is a bit harrowing. The high temperature that day was about 14 degrees F (or -10 C.) But it makes for a very interesting EV winter range test.
As Tim explains at the outset, the Hummer EV starts the day charged to 100%. That reads as 285 miles (459 km) of range, so the SUV estimates about a 10% range hit already. He heads to Cheyenne, Wyoming because he knows there are charging stations there, and sets off amid the single-digit temperatures and a whole lotta snow.
Tim plays it smart here. He preconditions the interior cabin while the Hummer EV is still plugged in, which warms it up nicely before he’s ready to go. Then once he begins his drive, he dials the heater down but leaves the heated seats on to conserve energy. He’s also smart when it comes to charging; he decides early on that if he needs to juice up, it doesn’t need to be to 100% over several hours, but only to add 100 miles or so—enough to comfortably reach his destination. (This is kind of the idea way to handle an electric road trip unless you just have plenty of time to kill.)
He also notes, correctly again, that having that big battery in the floor of the Hummer EV helps keep the center of gravity nice and low, which helps with overall stability and weight distribution when things get slippery. As I’ve written myself before, EVs are better at winter driving than many people think.
But the tradeoff is going to be reduced overall range as cold impacts efficiency. And as you can see, this is legit winter driving conditions, not just a light breeze:
Photo by: InsideEVs
Like I said. Cold.
But Tim has a tight schedule to keep, so he commits to powering through—albeit carefully. He has praise for the Hummer EV’s regenerative braking, which also affords a higher degree of control in conditions like this because the actual brake pedal gets used less while going down hills. Unfortunately, in snowy conditions like that, Super Cruise is out—and EVs don’t heat up their hoods like gas cars do, so he deals with more ice than an ICE vehicle would.
After driving about 90 miles to Cheyenne, Tim notes that he only has 98 miles of range left. A Hummer EV isn’t an efficiency king on a good day; here, the combination of highway speeds and the cold weather leaves him with about 98 miles of range left. The Hummer EV reads a paltry 1.3 miles per kWh of efficiency, too. “I have just been burning through this battery,” he says. Tim errs on the side of caution (and he has to use the facilities anyway) so he charges sooner than the Hummer EV recommends and then downs a sandwich inside the cabin.
And his conclusion here is a pretty fair one: “The question in my head is, do you consider this a success or a failure?” It was a success, he says, in that he was able to get to the airport on time, albeit with a stop along the way that needed to happen regardless. At the same time, he estimates about $30 or $40 for public charging.
But, yes: as comfortable and unique as the Hummer EV is, that big battery and almost 9,000-pound curb weight are disadvantages for winter range. At those temperatures, a full-bore 314 miles of range is pretty out of the question—just as it would be on any highway road trip, but it suffers more than usual in this cold-weather test.
Ultimately, this is a great summary of EV winter road-trip planning. You need to think ahead, know where your chargers are, and you’ll have comfort and traction advantages that may surpass gas-powered cars. But there’s still a big difference between an EV’s estimated range in the cold and what you actually might get.
What did you think of this test? Let us know in the comments.
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