At a time when all types of vehicles are going electric, some studies are trying to show that it is not necessarily a good idea. The latest GMC Hummer EV wouldn’t pollute much less than its predecessor, or even a Toyota Corolla. Is this true?

The Hummers of the early 2000s have always been known as very fuel-intensive vehicles. A new study has found that the new GMC Hummer EV could unfortunately be just as polluting as its predecessors with internal combustion engines.

The study in question found that in terms of upstream emissions, that is, the emissions created by generating electricity to power an electric vehicle, the Hummer produced 341 grams of CO2 per mile. That’s 106 and 112 grams more than the Ford F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T, two of the closest competitors to the GMC pickup.

In addition, it was found that the electric Hummer produced more CO2 per mile than a Toyota Corolla, which emits 269 grams per mile. However, a Hummer H2 would emit about 600 grams of CO2 per mile.

This is largely due to the Gargantuan curb weight of the Hummer EV (4,111 kg) and its very cubic and almost anti-aerodynamic size. Because of these two characteristics, the engines need much more energy to move the craft forward.

However, it should be noted that these CO2 emissions figures differ depending on the geography for electric vehicles, as the type of energy used to produce electricity is different and the original source of this figure makes it the global average. In comparison, in Europe where sustainable energy sources are increasingly used in recent years, this figure would be only 166 grams per thousand.

Even in the United States, this figure is only 276, which puts the Hummer EV below the emissions of the Toyota Corolla.

Not that polluting?

Be that as it may, these “power-hungry” pickups are still more environmentally friendly than their combustion engine counterparts: even the Hummer EV which is the least efficient of all, which produces 103 grams of CO2 per mile less than the Ford F-150 with a gasoline engine. Given this, it seems that the best solution for the entire electric vehicle industry would be to put more emphasis on creating lighter vehicles with more consistent aerodynamics.

By creating more efficient electric vehicles, less electricity will be used to achieve the same performance, thus creating fewer upstream emissions. In addition, a more efficient electric vehicle would not need such a large battery, which would also reduce the pollution created during the extraction of precious metals needed to produce battery packs. In short, the new Hummer EV is not really more polluting than the old one, but this study surely means that it is not as clean as it seems.