GMC Hummer EV Pollutes As Much As Small Gasoline-Powered Cars, Says Study
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The climate impact of bigger electric vehicles like the GMC Hummer EV can be equal to that caused by the emissions from small gasoline-powered cars, data from the MIT Trancik Lab shows.
Larger, heavier EVs produce a greater environmental impact than their diminutive relatives, and the GMC Hummer EV weighs in at more than 4.5 tons in some configurations.
Large electric pickups and SUVs like the GMC Hummer EV are the main culprits when it comes to matching small ICE vehicles for pollution, the New York Times reports. EVs do not directly generate emissions, but manufacturing processes for both the vehicles and their batteries as well as the electricity generation providing them with power all release pollutants into the atmosphere.
This isn’t the first time the GMC Hummer EV has drawn criticism for its environmental footprint and other perceived problems. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) cited the immense weight of the GMC Hummer EV as making it more polluting than a Chevy Malibu, generating 341 grams of C02 emissions per mile driven compared to the Chevy Malibu’s 320 grams. The Malibu’s emissions come from the tailpipe while the Hummer’s are “upstream emissions” from fossil fuel use at power plants.
The limited-run Hummer EV Pickup Edition 1’s curb weight does indeed tip the scales at a whopping 9,046 pound (4,103 kilograms). Its battery alone weighs 2,900 pounds (1,315 kilograms), the same as an entire 2015 Toyota Corolla. However, as GM pointed out in a statement to GM Authority responding to the ACEEE study, the vehicle is a halo product encouraging electric vehicle adoption.
A company representative said “the GMC Hummer EV (and other performance-oriented EVs) are accomplishing more in bringing EV skeptics into the EV fold than any of these glass-half-empty criticisms ever will.”
Critics, and even defenders, of the GMC Hummer EV also tend to forget the battery-powered giant is a niche vehicle. It will never sell in large volumes on the mass market. However, the criticisms also apply to the upcoming Chevy Silverado EV and the GMC Sierra EV, which are intended, like the Ford F-150 Lightning and the Ram 1500 REV, to be sold to a wider market.
Whatever the merits of the arguments against the relative high upstream emissions produced by the GMC Hummer EV, the public response to the vehicle seems strongly positive. GM reported in a media briefing attended by GM Authority last October that both the pickup and SUV variants of the Hummer are sold out for a minimum of two years.
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Wow, it took MIT to tell us what most car guys already knew.
What do you “know”? What you know is quite simply wrong. You sound like my dad and have no idea what you are talking about but trying to push a certain barrier and ignore some pretty critical parts😂
You are comparing apples to oranges and here’s why. The hummer is a 9k lb vehicle and a small car is about 3k lbs. Not the same vehicle and wouldn’t be used for the same thing. Let’s compare apples to apples. This would be difficult with the hummer because most people won’t use it for an actual truck but a fair comparison would be a 1/2 ton gasser to the Silverado EV.
That wouldn’t fit your narrative you are trying to push though.
Brandon, I think you missed the point of this comparison, completely. The article is not comparing the usefulness or what the two vehicles will be used for, but is comparing the effects these vehicles will have on
climate change. The article starts right off with “The climate impact of bigger electric vehicles”. I don’t know how you could have missed that point.
No, you are missing the point. They frame it so people who have a hard time comprehending complex situations have the takeaway of them not being any better for the environment when in fact they are. Many of those people read on here as you can see in the comments here.
There is no use in comparing two vehicles of different sizes because they won’t be used for the same purpose. They are two different buyers. As you can see in these comments you can see how people interpreted the article. Look at the top comment. A guy who says they already knew this. Referring to its not any better than the gas vehicle.
The report is misleading! If the electricity used to charge the vehicle came from green sources such as hydro generated and solar power then the foot print is no greater than any other vehicle manufacturing process.
Don. The point that you are missing is that in the U.S. only 20% of the electric power produced is from the “Renewables” and of that 20% only 12% is generated by Wind and Solar while power generated from Coal and Natural Gas is 60%, as quoted by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, February of 2022.
Don,
Would you know what fuel source is used to generate the electrical energy to charge a 2900lb battery? Its natural gas, coal, some nuclear and 2% from wind and solar. The point is the carbon footprint to charge the Hummer battery is the equivalent carbon footprint as a small gasoline powered car. I’m surprised its that good. Consider the energy to mine and produce the battery materials and the pollution is actually much higher.
I’ve been telling folks this for 9 months!
I saw a video where a guy charged his Hummer for 45 minutes got 64 miles of charge and it cost his $19.00. His last word before the video ended. “This is a scam”.
Yeah, I think you’re talking about StradMan.
USA 1: If this guy was stupid enough to get the Hummer in the first place, then he’s stupid enough to drive it like he’s in a race and then charging at a DC fast charger where it will cost him much more. Someone like that should be plugging in at 10pm and letting it charge via 240 overnight.
But the part that gets me the most? Complaining that it cost him $19.00 when taking a comparable ICE powered truck to the gas pump where it would have cost him 4 to 5 times that. If he could afford the over-priced Hummer, he can afford to pay the DC fast charge extra amounts.
Dan B – I’m pretty sure you can get more then 64 miles with $19.00 of gas or diesel and it doesn’t take 45 minutes. I believe that was his point. Also, I believe I read somewhere that it would take almost 4 days to charge a Hummer completely at home.
USA 1: Understand. I wasn’t saying (or didn’t mean) the $19.00 of gas and 64 miles was comparable to the charge. My point was simply that if he’s going to complain about the $19 for the 64 miles, what would he do for $100 and maybe get 200 miles of range on gas?
As for the charging at home: If he was using a level 1 (120) cord, yes it would take forever. If using a level 2 (240), then plugging in at 10pm and unplugging at 7am should keep it fully charged if it’s around 20% when he starts. That is unless there’s something wrong with his Hummer or it’s completely different from other EV’s.
100$ gets you 500 miles with a HD diesel guzzler. That’s the point
Steve: I’m going to counter with real math. Of course this math equation depends on where you live and the price of diesel, but the average in the US for diesel (just Googled it) is $4.71 per gallon. Here in California it’s much higher at $5.60.
Take $100 and divide by the price per gal (100 by 4.71) = 21 gal of fuel.
Take a high average of 21 mpg for a large vehicle like this with a diesel.
Take the 21 gal x 21 MPG and you get 445 miles
Now take that 100 divided by 5.6 = 17.8 gal x 21 mpg = 375 miles of range.
Although the lower priced diesel gets you closer to your number, it still falls short by a good %. And remember, that’s IF a person was averaging 21 mpg. I’m certain that number is probably well below 21 for an average (not all highway).
Thanks for proving my point. I was only off by 10%
He got 64 miles for that $19 charge. $19 puts 5.96 gallons of regular gas in my Silverado. At 19 mpg that gets me 113 miles . That’s almost twice as far, pretty obvious which is the better deal.
Carl: So you are paying $3.18 per gallon? Great and good for you. When that price goes way up and you are paying $4.18 per gallon, Just that one dollar per gal difference just cut your range from 113 to 85. Now you are getting very close to the 64 he got. But the point is that he was stupid for buying a Hummer to start, stupid for going to a super charger where it will cost him way more and stupid for not having the system set to properly charge (see Richard P’s comment below).
We get that you are 100% against EV. That’s fine. Go back and read Mr. Mike’s comment above. EV’s are not for everyone now or maybe ever. But your constant hatred against them is silly. Go drive your 19 MPG Silverado all day long if you like. It’s your money.
A Maverick Hybrid will go another twice as far as your Silverado with that same amount of fuel, but neither has 1000 HP so comparing them in just that way doesn’t really make sense.
Nor does the hummer if you rate it SAE. The 1000HP is GM estimate in WTF mode and is only available for a short period of time. I can NOS a Silverado to that for a similarly short period of time.
When your actually measuring the output to the ground for extended periods of time, you are better off with a duramax than an ultium BEV.
A Maverick hybrid isn’t a truck.
Why not? What can it not do? Before you answer look at all the trims
It sounds like he was only charging at 55kW/hr when the Hummer can actually accept a charge at up to 350kW/hr. In other words, what took 45 minutes should have taken only 8. That’s typically dependent on the charger used. A different charger would probably produce a different result.
This isn’t entirely true as they are not accounting for the Well to the Wheel emissions of the Malibu (think what it takes to explore, drill, extract, ship, refine, deliver and store fossil fuels plus oil changes, etc.). In addition, renewables already displaced coal for electricity production in US (still lagging NG). I agree this thing is a beast and requires a sh!t ton of electricity, but this ‘selected’ article is just fulfilling a narrative that most readers on this site will agree with.
mvb: I agree with you on most of it. In fact, I had a Malibu and decided to sell it and buy a Bolt EV. From what I’ve been able to research, driving my Bolt 12,000 miles per year will be cleaner than the same for my Malibu where I was getting 32 MPG average and would constantly get 38 to 40 highway. I love the lack of needing oil changes or stops at the gas station. I even look at the fact that I can drive my Bolt about 90% of the time without ever touching the brakes. Compared to the Malibu where I used the brakes 100% of the time I drove it. That alone will reduce the brake dust/pollutants from the brakes and send way less material (worn brake pads, rotors, etc) to the land fill over the course of it’s life. So yes, there are a lot of things that this article and many on here don’t take into account. But I think we can all agree that vehicles like the Hummer do nothing but fill a void in their owner’s lives while screaming look at me.
Information I read says coal still accounts for 19.5% of USA total power generation. Almost even with all renewable sources combined at 21.5% according to eia.
And that number is inflated. The DEI counts renewables when they run at 100%, which is moronic when wind farms are built with extra turbines to maintain output on calm days (ever walked by a wind farm and counted how many turbines were actually running) and same reason solar farms have panels facing east and west though you really can only use half of those at any given time.
Same reason the grid 5 years agoe was only 2 % renewables and now is magically 20% despite only modest improvements. They just counted differently. In reality 35% of your power comes from coal
And we should be working diligently toward 0% from coal while working to change the changes in our climate that are already causing many problems and will only continue to get worse. Staying with the status quo is not an option.
It’s a better option than leaving million out in the cold to die, or heat to suffocate or without food. The status quo is actually pretty incredible.
Think about a hundred years ago. Climate related deaths were in the millions each year. A lack of rain causes half a million to start in Africa, a hurricane wipes a city off the face of the map. We’ve reduced that to almost 0 climate related deaths. Give me 2, 5, 10 degrees of global warming! I’ll take it over rolling blackouts any day. It’s way better having extra heat and being able to have AC and rush people to the hospital and just move our farms farther north than the new green deal alternatives, or did you miss the people who died in stampedes trying to get to the pools in Europe over last summer because they have no power for AC.
MVB- Your statement that “renewables already displaced coal for electricity production in the US” is not entirely true.
According to U.S. Energy Information Administration as of February 2022 Renewables represent 20% while Coal and Natural gas represent 60% and Nuclear represents just 19%.
Hummer’s are a total joke. That fact that GM is wasting and has wasted so much on these things is embarrassing at best. They were a joke 20 years ago and are still today. It’s nothing more than a vehicle to fill the empty voids in people who just need attention. This study should not shock anyone, as we must figure out how to bring EV’s to market in a much cleaner way and use only renewable energy to charge them. Also, EV’s are not (now or maybe for 20+ years) for everyone. Do I own one? Yes, I just got my 2023 Bolt EV in January and so far I love it. But I’m fully aware of the process to make it and all EV’s. The huge difference is that the Hummers are pure excess and use +/- 3x the materials to produce than what the Bolt. Does that make my Bolt purchase less controversial? Maybe not, but according to all the research I’ve done, my Bolt will have a much smaller overall Carbon Footprint than a Trailblazer if the end of life process is done correctly on the Bolt.
The danger in having all these EV trucks with such high performance is that it gives the drivers a false sense of being green when they really aren’t. I’m for EV’s in hopes that they will continue to bring new tech to this field in order to make a positive change in the climate change we face. I’m not for having EV’s just to allow morons to drive 9,000 pound trucks at 80 MPH down the road like they’re in a race.
lets not forget, at 9,000lbs, those 35-37″ tires are going to do a lot more damage to roads. Oh, and I wonder how those tires are made, couldn’t be with petroleum could it?
I’m all for big tires and fast trucks/suvs, but lets quit pretending this is a green vehicle.
They should have thrown the 6.6 duramax in that thing.
No one in real life and GM are pretending.
If you have a better way to meet the Zero emissions regs that are not likely to be repealed.
Besides the Hummers job was to make money to pay the development cost going into the cheaper EV models that are coming thAt would have a difficult time paying the development cost and being affordable.
Actually they are likely to be repealed. Just wait until the rebellion against them is strong enough.
Same story as original Hummers had. What a joke.
Yes, the original Hummer also had a carbon footprint comparable to a small modern car….
But here is the deal. The Hummer meets the no ICE requirements that are coming an unlikely to be receded.
Like I have said all along GM and any other automaker is not out to save the trees. They are out to survive major regulations even their lobby groups have failed to challange.
This goes back to the WEC power brokers and how much power they are getting over us.
Read up on ESG scores. Very scary and our present leaders have already signed on.
This sounds like a win to me.
So MIT finally admits that EV’ vehicles have substantial emissions? I call it a win for normal people who knew that years ago.
People on this site will see that as a bad thing. The hummer Ev pollutes as much as a small gas powered vehicle. That’s a great thing! We are comparing a 9k lb vehicle to a small car. Come on now. Embrace change it’s coming.
And educate yourself about charging. Someone on here said it takes 4 days to charge a hummer at hummer. It’s simply a function of charging speed. If you fill a swimming pool with a garden hose it’s going to take a lot longer than a fire hose.
The bad think is this comes from the NYT. If their saying it it’s definitely worse.
LOL, surprise surprise surprise! Confirmation of what the smart people already knew!
All of the extra expense an inconvenience for nothing!
How does MIT consider whether the Hummer is being charged by power coming from hydroelectric, wind, solar or even nuclear generators? These sources now represent >20% of electrical power generation. Its closer to 50% in California. Once u eliminate fossil fuel for electrical generation, there goes ur emissions argument.
The EU (Brussels) is furious that Germany has dispensed with the NO-ICE requirement of 2030….
It is to be expected that most ‘liberals’ with no Scientific or Technical background could be deluded into thinking that Carbon Dioxide (CO2), a Building Block of Life – would be Classified as a ‘Pollutant’, but the fact remains that the main danger of CO2 is having a shortage of it and not a surfeit. It is much more instructive to learn of the lower limit of CO2, where Photosynthesis STOPS. If that happens, we are all dead.
What is most surprising is the number of supposedly educated people who should know better, is that the term ‘Fossil Fuel’ was coined by JOHN D. Rockefeller – to give people the illusion that Crude Oil and Methane (Natural Gas) were both RARE, and expensive. Doubters can answer me how they got all those Dinosaurs up to Saturn’s moon TITAN, where there is a 5,000 year supply out of the stuff in LNG lakes – out in the open. Obviously actually drilling for it there would find more thousands of years of supply.
Of course, the latest PLANNED ‘Controlled’ Burning of Vinyl Chloride in Eastern Ohio has been deemed ‘SAFE’ by the EPA but PLANT FOOD (C’O2) is a ‘Dangerous Pollutant’.. The waters of the ohio river, where tens of thousands of fish have died, has also been deemed ‘Safe to Drink’.. Now pets are dying inside homes, and people are complaining of new health problems… Won’t be long until this SAFE water and air will force total evacuation of East Palestine, Ohio.
The relatively few number of Hummer EVs made will not be a problem in Comparison with those fiascos.
Regardless of what people think about global cooling/heating/climate change, the fact is in the past 30 years as CO2 levels have increased, the earth is now 14% greener as a result. CO2 has limited capacity for holding heat, unlike water, and evidence for its role in the gradual increase in the earth’s surface temperature is correlative at best. It is undeniable that tailpipe emissions lead to broader scale pollution (there’s a reason you open the garage door when your car is running) which increases asthma, lung infections, heart disease and lung cancer to name a few – Beijing is a great example, pollution completely recedes rapidly following government mandated no ICE vehicles on the road. Since the adoption of more BEVs in California, asthma levels have been reduced – I know, this study is only correlative as well and more long term studies need to be carried out.
Bill: Too much C02 is also not good. It needs to be balanced properly and my (simple) take is that we have and are pushing the earth out of balance. Look at it like this. Drinking one glass of red one per day is supposed to be good for you and your heart. So would drinking 5 glasses a day be better? No.
But I’m just a little concerned in what you went on to say about drilling for crude on another planet or moon? So you feel that drilling and transporting that crude from another planet to earth would be smarter than trying to work on other “earthly” green sources?
Lastly, you bring up the tragedy in Ohio from the train derailment. Also in your second sentence, you bring up “liberals”. Mr. Bill Howland, you do understand sir that Trump deregulated many of the rail safety that was in place while placing many American’s in more danger? You do realize that it’s not the “liberals” who created this? I’m just checking to see if you fully understand the total contradictions in your comment.
You bring up valid points, but to be clear as a non Rep or Dem Libertarian, the regs you are referring to had no impact on this accident – at all. It’s tragic, but these things happen. Predictably, this tragedy must be used by both sides to rile up the base.
How much is too much C02? Current concentration is littleraly 0% of the atmosphere. It rounds to 0! Its current at 300 parts per million. In prehistoric eras we saw concentrations in the 8-10% and life went on. Too much in the physical definition is actually 5%. That’s when C02 start becoming poisonous like carbon monoxide is. Call me when we hit 1.5% and we can be fine freaking out.
Dan…
The Ohio tragedy is just about the worst environmental disaster in memory and certainly the worst 205 miles from me.
The release was planned in that the first 3 days there was no release. Gov of Ohio and Penn gave the ok to blow a hole in a few of the tanks and deliberately set it on fire creating 1000s of tons of life ending materials .
A few years from now, the town will be empty.
Dan.
Please carefully reread my first comment. I didn’t say the things u said. By the way drinking 5 glasses of water is better for you than only one.
My Rivian is charged 100% by solar at home. Some commercial chargers are 100% green using carbon offsets. EVs are just in their infancy as is renewable power. We got to start somewhere. I don’t see a lot of foresight in this forum.
Other Steve,
How much money do you got? Are you off the grid? If not then it’s likely your not charging anything with that solar, if you are, it’s kinda douchy if you to flaunt how you can afford a 90K truck, 100K in solar panels and storage units and say all of us buying used cars here need to buck it up and shell out the cash for a BEV too.
Evolution is unavoidable! The question has never been IF the next big idea or scientific breakthrough will take place, but WHEN it will take place. This is why words like INNOVATION exist. You cannot expect everything to stay the same for the next 100 years AND make advancements also (i.e. there’s a new cell phone produced every 6 months- a year because the original one is obsolete).
Has anyone against EVs looked around? No one is driving a 1920s car or truck across the country on family vacations BECAUSE WE’VE EVOLVED!
Don’t worry, no one is going to confiscate your Gas and Diesel powered vehicles. They’re just going to stop making new ones. The world is going forward whether you like it or not. So, it’s ROLL OR GET ROLLED OVER!! Get on board.
A VERY hefty truck that only pollutes as much as a small car seems like a pretty big net positive.
Your report is misleading! If the electricity used to charge the vehicle came from green sources such as hydro generated and solar power then the foot print is no greater than any other vehicle manufacturing process.
The whole EV craze is just that! Dopey people believing all the Climate Activists nonsense! When the idiots are done wasting their money and that market goes bust you’ll see all the vehicle manufacturers go bankrupt again. Then they’ll be begging the American taxpayers to bail them out again!
I’m very far from a climate activist but go read a book it might help. Why will the market go bust? It won’t. It will be a slow transition and once the infrastructure is built out like our gas stations are today there will be no advantage to driving an ICE vehicle. Just give it some time. In the meantime, if you have a garage you plug in your car and wake up to a full tank every single morning. You should try it you just might like it.
Don’t miss gas stations AT ALL with a level 2 charger in the garage.
@Brandon and mvb. I agree with your comments about just giving the EVs a chance. We shouldn’t just condemn something to Hell because it’s new and different.
Also, I can’t wait to see all of the irresponsible Morons that can’t remember to put gas in their cars and drive around with little to no gas in them, try to do that with EVs. There will be a lot of people on side of the road with no one able to bring a gas can to help them because they didn’t think to charge their cars at home the night before.
AAA is going to have to get a contract with a manufacturer to build what I call Supervolt Emergency Roadside Assistance Vehicles to respond in such cases.
With modern problems comes modern solutions. We had the same issue with gas stations back in the day and we found a solution… a gas can and many gas stations. I expect the same to happen with electric cars.
I will say the real advantage of EVs is the ability to wake up with a full charge every morning. Wouldn’t suggest it if you can’t charge while sleeping every night.
I mean Big Oil knew the effects of increased greenhouse gases on the climate over 40 years ago – it’s not nonsense (but to use your own words, it is dopey of an idiot like you to believe that).
Goes to show you that battery vehicles really do suck the environment .It sure doesn’t take much to figure that out . Keep the kids out of the mines, and the lithium lakes out of our back yards .People wake up