While GM couldn’t get the Hummer EV up to its winter cold weather testing facility in Kapuskasing, Ontario, it has been able to submit the truck to intense winds and -40 degree weather at a lab in Oshawa, Ontario.
The facility in Oshawa, called the ‘Ontario Tech University Automotive Centre of Excellence,’ has a Climatic Wind Tunnel that the company uses to cold weather test vehicles that can’t make it to the facility in Kapuskasing during the winter. GM’s press release says that around five percent of its vehicles end up in the Climatic Wind Tunnel instead of its real outdoor test track.
It’s a little concerning that GM isn’t testing this flagship electric vehicle (EV) on the actual winter test course considering the Hummer EV was revealed last October before the winter. Notably, running heaters and combatting the cold weather in an EV can lead to unforeseen issues, so it would have been great to see GM put the Hummer through its paces in the real world. For example, it seems like it will be tricky for GM to test outdoor winter charging with the truck in this cold wind tunnel.
Hopefully, the cold wind tunnel is good enough, and GM can make adjustments to dispel the notion that EVs don’t perform great in cold weather.
Canadians are expected to be able to buy this truck until the fall of 2022, so hopefully, GM can get the Hummer up to Kapuskasing during next winter to see how well it holds up. If you want to read more about the upcoming truck, you can check out our announcement post from last fall.
Source: GM
