- Sep 6, 2023
- 64
- 16
The GMC Hummer EV Pickup launched an all-new, all-electric chapter for the iconic off-roader nameplate in conjunction with the 2022 model year, bringing with it a variety of cutting-edge technology features and trail-ready specs. Interestingly, the Hummer EV Pickup doesn’t offer GMC’s carbon fiber bed, a popular option available for the GMC Sierra 1500. Now, GM Authority is reporting the reason why.
For those readers who may not remember, GMC’s innovative carbon-fiber-reinforced pickup box, labeled as CarbonPro, was all the rage when it launched with the 2019 GMC Sierra 1500. No surprise, as CarbonPro offers a number of benefits over your typical aluminum bed, including greater strength and greater resistance to dents and dings.
The carbon fiber bed also eliminates the need for rear wheelhouse liners, as well as the need for a spray-in bed liner, as GM Authority covered previously. As an added bonus, the CarbonPro bed offers a not-insubstantial weight savings, and, as a result, provides the vehicle with an uptick in payload rating.
So then, with all those benefits, one would think that the CarbonPro bed would be a perfect fit for the GMC Hummer EV Pickup, and yet, the all-electric rig doesn’t offer a carbon bed.
According to the lead development engineer for the GMC Hummer EV program, Aaron Pfau, the reason why gets down to the Hummer EV’s underlying structure.
“The GMC Sierra [CarbonPro] bed, that’s a separate bolt-on system, whereas the Hummer EV Pickup is body-frame integrated,” Pfau explained to GM Authority Executive Editor Alex Luft in an interview last year.
Indeed, the GM BT1 architecture, which underpins the GMC Hummer EV (as well as the GMC Sierra EV, Chevy Silverado EV, and Cadillac Escalade IQ) is not entirely body-frame integral, nor is it body-on-frame, either. Rather, the BT1 platform is actually something a bit in between, with the underlying GM Ultium battery pack serving as the “platform” for the vehicle body, a design which GM refers to internally as Ultibody.
Source
For those readers who may not remember, GMC’s innovative carbon-fiber-reinforced pickup box, labeled as CarbonPro, was all the rage when it launched with the 2019 GMC Sierra 1500. No surprise, as CarbonPro offers a number of benefits over your typical aluminum bed, including greater strength and greater resistance to dents and dings.
The carbon fiber bed also eliminates the need for rear wheelhouse liners, as well as the need for a spray-in bed liner, as GM Authority covered previously. As an added bonus, the CarbonPro bed offers a not-insubstantial weight savings, and, as a result, provides the vehicle with an uptick in payload rating.
So then, with all those benefits, one would think that the CarbonPro bed would be a perfect fit for the GMC Hummer EV Pickup, and yet, the all-electric rig doesn’t offer a carbon bed.
According to the lead development engineer for the GMC Hummer EV program, Aaron Pfau, the reason why gets down to the Hummer EV’s underlying structure.
“The GMC Sierra [CarbonPro] bed, that’s a separate bolt-on system, whereas the Hummer EV Pickup is body-frame integrated,” Pfau explained to GM Authority Executive Editor Alex Luft in an interview last year.
Indeed, the GM BT1 architecture, which underpins the GMC Hummer EV (as well as the GMC Sierra EV, Chevy Silverado EV, and Cadillac Escalade IQ) is not entirely body-frame integral, nor is it body-on-frame, either. Rather, the BT1 platform is actually something a bit in between, with the underlying GM Ultium battery pack serving as the “platform” for the vehicle body, a design which GM refers to internally as Ultibody.
Source