The HUMMER EV is more lunar rover than military machine
Test drive: 2021 GMC Yukon Diesel
The 2021 GMC Yukon Diesel combines the pulling energy of a V8 with crossover gas financial system, however is already nearing the top of the street, in response to Fox News Autos Editor Gary Gastelu.
The new GMC HUMMER EV pickup and SUV are throwbacks to HUMMER H2s from a decade in the past, however their inspiration goes a lot additional again than that.
(GMC)
Chief engineer Al Oppenheiser advised Fox News Autos that when his group was tasked on April 1, 2019 with designing and engineering an electrical truck lineup that might go into manufacturing inside two and a half years, about half the time sometimes allotted, it drew inspiration from the Apollo Program’s race to the Moon.
“We really felt this tie to what the NASA team must’ve had to go through to develop something in such a short period of time,” Oppenheiser mentioned.
General Motors was straight concerned within the Apollo Program, co-developing the Lunar Roving Vehicle with Boeing that might turn into the primary and nonetheless solely car ever pushed by a human on an extraterrestrial physique.
EXCLUSIVE: WHAT IT’S LIKE TO DRIVE ON THE MOON
Of course, just like the three rovers that stay on the Moon’s floor and can be the final word “barn finds” if recovered, the brand new HUMMERs are all-electric, however barely more succesful.
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While the rover’s 4 electrical motors had been rated at 1 / 4 horsepower every and its silver-zinc battery pack good for an estimated 57-mile vary within the low-gravity setting, the HUMMER’s Ultium electrical platform is able to delivering as much as 1,000 hp and 350 miles of driving on Earth.
To tie the 2 collectively, the HUMMER design group shifted away from the military ties of previous fashions and used a lunar theme on the brand new vehicles that features topographical maps of the Sea of Tranquility on the cargo ground, door audio system and different spots, together with recreations of Neil Armstrong’s footprint within the regolith.
The digital instrument cluster additionally shows a white lunar sample wallpaper throughout the day.
But may the brand new HUMMERs really work on the Moon?
“That’s a good question, I’d sure love to try. Maybe Mars,” Oppenheiser mentioned.
