GMC’s electric truck and SUV, the Hummer EV, turns out to be able to wheelie like motorcycle racers do. The ability was revealed by GMC Chief Engineer, Al Oppenheiser to The Drive recently.
Al Oppenheiser said when they first developed the Hummer EV electric car they found a lot of interesting things. One of them is the ability of a car that can do a wheelie.
They found this when they tried to align the torque in the electric car on the front and rear wheels. Understandably, the torque possessed by the Hummer EV is indeed very abundant, namely 1,085 Nm.
“When tried many times, the front tire of the car immediately rises because of the large torque. So this car can indeed do wheelie,” he said.
Remove because safety reason
It’s just that at that time Al Oppenheiser saw that this potential seemed to be endangering the owner of the Hummer EV. The reason is that not all users of their cars have the ability to drive a capable car. They were worried that instead of a wheelie, the Hummer EV that they brought would flip over.
As a result they decided to negate that ability. The trick is to create a system that can distribute more torque to the rear tires than the front tires.
But Al Oppenheiser slightly opens the possibility that theoretically the wheelie can still be done. It’s just that he doesn’t want to reveal what to do so that this ability can still be used for drivers who are desperate to try.
Watts to Freedom Feature
Furthermore, Al Oppenheiser said that the ability was actually replaced with another ability that was no less special. They created a driving mode called Watts to Freedom.
This driving mode allows car owners to accelerate from 0 to 90 kilometers per hour in 3 seconds. What’s interesting is that when the mode is activated, the four tires will spin, causing smoke. After that, the new electric car sped up to 90 kilometers per hour.
It is known that currently the production of Hummer EV electric trucks and SUVs is still ongoing. The plan is mid this year Hummer EV Edition 1 which is present in limited quantities will soon be sent to consumers. This model is the first car made for customers who are willing to spend more money than those who still have to queue for a long time.