Kapuskasing, Ontario — The GMC Hummer EV will come with a tiny piece of Canada, as the vehicle’s cold-weather performance is being tested in northern Ontario.
General Motors released a video of the upcoming electric Hummer in late March, wherein a white version of the pickup traversing snow-covered grounds in negative 32-degree weather.
Approximately 800 kilometres north of Toronto, General Motors said it selected the Kapuskasing Proving Grounds as a testing location due to its harsh weather and environmental conditions.
“This is some of the coldest weather…in North America,” said Josh Walton, operations manager at the GM testing facility. “Our motto is ‘we know cold’.”
The four-minute clip starts with a Hummer EV locked in a “cold-soak” test, with the vehicle locked in a negative 30-degree-Celcius chamber and left overnight.
“We do this testing to simulate [a situation like], say you’re coming back from the airport and you’ve left your vehicle in the parking area. We want to make sure your HVAC systems are working the way they should, how quickly the defroster works; if the heated seats and other functions are working.”
Next, the Hummer goes through the dynamics testing area, where its traction on tarmac, snow and ice is put to the test.
“We try to envision what our customers might experience in the day-to-day use of their vehicles in winter operations. We get very creative in terms of how we test and make sure these functions operate the way they should for our customers, and in the cold,” said Walton.
