There are two all-electric pickups available now, with more to come. But until those others arrive, we can put the two we have up against each other in a drag race. That's what the Throttle House YouTube channel did, lining up the new GMC Hummer EV against the Rivian R1T. The channel also included a Tesla Model X in one race to serve as a benchmark of sorts.
The Hummer EV is way more powerful than the Rivian, but it's also way heavier. The GMC tips the scales at 9,046 pounds (4,103 kilograms). The Rivian is not "light," but it is 1,900 lbs (861 kg) lighter than the Hummer, weighing in at 7,148 lbs (3,242 kg). The Rivian will need the advantage because it's down on power. The Rivian delivers 835 horsepower (622 kilowatts) and 908 pound-feet (1,231 Newton-meters) of torque, while the Hummer pumps out 1,000 hp (745 kW) and 1,200 lb-ft (1,626 Nm) of torque.
Gallery: Rivian R1T
While both are all-electric pickups, their differences make themselves quite apparent in the first few seconds of the first race. The Tesla Model X leaves the two trucks in the dust, with the lighter Rivian getting off the line ahead of the heavier Hummer. The Hummer cannot close that gap, hitting its 106-mile-per-hour (170 kilometer-per-hour) speed limiter and taking second. The R1T has a limiter, too, but Rivian lets it hit 115 mph (185 kph).
The two trucks then line up for a rolling race, which should have negated some of the Rivian's advantage. However, it doesn't look like that happened. The Rivian just pulls away from the Hummer, which is too heavy to compete against the R1T. While the Hummer EV offers its Watts to Freedom mode and a lot of power, which lowers the truck for optional performance, it's still a heavy pickup that has to fight the realities of physics.
The next few years will see more all-electric pickups arrive, though they all won't be as high-powered as these two. The Ford F-150 Lightning will deliver up to 563 hp (419 kW), while the Silverado EV will offer 664 hp (495 kW). Higher-powered variants might be a possibility, but we'll likely have to wait for those. Until then, though, there is plenty of horsepower between the Hummer and Rivian to entertain us for a while.
