GM’s HMMWV (Humvee) Replacement: A Stepping Stone To More EVs – CleanTechnica

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Everyone knows about the legendary “Humvee,” officially called the HMMWV, which stands for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle. For decades, it’s been the main ride for not only the U.S. military, but for other militaries globally. Before it became the standard, the U.S. military used a variety of other vehicles, like the original Jeep, an upgraded Vietnam-era Jeep, as well as a number of other vehicles, including standard GM square body trucks.

But, like the U.S. Postal Service’s Grumman LLV, the design and many of the trucks themselves are getting a little long in the tooth. When it first went into service, Ronald Reagan was in office, Whitney Houston’s debut album came out, New Coke was released, and Back to the Future (part one) was in theaters! Given how much automotive technology has changed, it’s only natural that the military would be looking to do something a little newer.

Recently, Military Times had a chance to see what GM would do if asked to replace the HMMWV, and they did a video review, much like a publication would do for any automobile! (summary and discussion below the embedded video)

At a GM proving ground, retired General John Johnson, who now works with GM Defense, presented the new truck. Unlike the HMMWV, GM’s tech demonstrator is based on the same frame as the Chevy Silverado, but with a hybrid powertrain instead of a straight diesel engine. By combining diesel (the fuel the military largely uses today) with batteries, fuel efficiency is greatly improved along with allowing the truck to have a few other tricks up its sleeve.

For one, the truck is extremely quiet compared to the HMMWV. As a hybrid, it doesn’t start its engine right away, and can avoid burning fuel at low speeds. It even has an EV mode (labeled as silent mode) that can give soldiers (and people from other services) the ability to be extra stealthy when needed. In hybrid mode, it can run the diesel engine more like a generator, making the vehicle sound a lot more like a piece of construction equipment than a truck.

GM hopes to use this technology demonstrator to prove that the technology for hybrid and even EV drive is there today for militaries. This isn’t some far-out future thing that militaries can purchase in the 2040s. It’s something they can buy now, power with existing supply lines, and put right to work doing everything that today’s HMMWVs do, plus more.

GM is also looking for feedback from everyone from journalists to military personnel at all levels to foreign allied militaries in order to make sure the vehicle can keep improving toward a production model. This is far from a final design, so there’s plenty of time to improve things.

Another key thing the company wants to provide over the current HMMWV offering is safety. Rollover protection, electronic stability control and anti-lock brakes, a harness system, and other things that people would expect after driving normal vehicles are all included. This helps soldiers who grew up driving normal vehicles with these safety technologies have an easier time getting started without getting in over their heads. Everyone hasn’t driven a classic truck off-road!

Not long after the interview, GM Defense took this truck along with some others (including an all-electric model) to AUSA, an event where military buyers and soldiers can get hands-on looks at military gear of all kinds.

The press release for that event gave us a lot more information about the vehicle. Specifically, it’s built atop the Silverado HD platform, starting basically with a 3500HD (one-ton truck) and the ZR2 suspension and off-road package. Then, instead of a larger V8 or inline-six diesel engine larger trucks like this typically get, the vehicle has the smaller 2.8L turbodiesel engine that typically comes in smaller trucks like the Colorado. To make this small engine do the job, it’s paired with a fairly large (by civilian standards) 12-module battery pack, powering drove motors for the front and rear axles.

In other words, it’s no Prius. It’s an actual truck, but it’s also more of an EV with a range extender than it is a typical parallel hybrid. The diesel engine never sends power directly to the wheels, instead only keeping the battery pack topped up as needed. This means that the vehicle can be used to do things that no military vehicle presently in service does.

“Next Gen’s ‘wow’ factor is right behind the wheel,” said John ‘JD’ Johnson, vice president of GM Defense’s Government Solutions and Strategy Division. “Customers need to drive this highly capable vehicle to see, feel, and hear the benefits. Next Gen fundamentally changes the discussion around modern mobility through the tactical benefits delivered by its propulsion system, including its ability to address the power gap in the formation. This highly capable tactical vehicle leverages billions of dollars of investments GM has made in R&D and innovation to enhance warfighter capability. We encourage customers to test drive it so that we can get these capabilities fielded immediately.”

Why Not Go Full Electric?

I’d love to see militaries go full-electric. This sounds unrealistic to many people, but in the long-run, it could be a lot better. Instead of being a slave to supply lines thousands of miles long, a military with electric vehicles can use anything for power. Nuclear, generators running on any fuel type, power from naval ships, portable solar, and many more things could be used to keep the vehicles running without the vulnerability and cost of bringing fuel from around the globe.

But, electrification needs to start somewhere. Having electric and hybrid vehicles that can slot into today’s supply lines is a great way to bring militaries from the “Chevy Volt” stage to the modern BEV stage. After all, we EV drivers didn’t always drive EVs (unless you’re a really young EV owner, of course). Once the advantages of part-time electric drive become apparent, it will be easier for the industry to move forward.

I reached out to GM Defense to see if they’d let us get an in-person look at GM’s EV and hybrid military technology demonstrators in the near future. Be sure to subscribe or follow us on social media to see the latest. You can also follow me on X/Twitter to look out for more outdoor-related EV content!

Featured image by GM Defense.