NAEV Cyber Hummer Prototype First Drive: Electric Hot Rodding

From the earliest days of the automobile, professional engineers and shade tree mechanics alike have been dropping massive engines into vehicles never meant for them. With the advent of electric vehicles has come a new wave of hot rodders with electricity coursing through their veins rather than gasoline, but the fundamental philosophy remains the same. The North American Electric Vehicles Cyber Hummer is just the latest manifestation.

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Don’t We Already Have An Electric Hummer?

As a MotorTrend reader, you’re no doubt aware the Hummer brand is back and all-electric, but this isn’t that. GM’s EV reboot of Hummer starts with the company’s Ultium EV platform in truck format, a skateboard platform with massive wheels, tires, and batteries hung off it powered by up to three in-house electric motors. It’s big, it’s insanely fast, and it has very little to do with the AM General HMMWV military truck that started it all.

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This Is Not That

NAEV’s Cyber Hummer, on the other hand, isn’t just related to or inspired by the original Humvee. It is one. (It therefore has nothing to do with the new GMC-branded Hummers.) The best examples of retired ex-military Hummers are bought at government surplus auction and shipped to the company’s modest factory in Oliver, British Columbia. They’re stripped bare, and their old, wheezy 6.2- to 6.5-liter diesel V-8s and equally anemic three- and four-speed automatics are tossed out. While stripped, the frame is modified with new subframe mounts and cross members while the body’s massive central tunnel is cut down to allow for central seating in both rows because it no longer needs to house the drivetrain.

Once everything is repainted, an undamaged battery pack from a wrecked Tesla is fitted between the frame rails and protected with a thick aluminum skidplate. Complete Tesla subframes, motors, and suspension are bolted in at both ends and wired up. With them come Tesla disc brakes, calipers, and a brake booster. Off-the-shelf radiators cool the drivetrain while an aftermarket CAN Bus controls the whole thing.

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Wait, Tesla Suspension?

Yes, that means the Hummer’s famous portal axles are gone, but there are upsides. With big all-terrain tires mounted, the Cyber Hummer has 15 inches of ground clearance, just an inch less than before. The Tesla wheel hubs are modified slightly to replace the factory air suspension with coil-over springs and shocks, but the suspension is otherwise stock.

That’s also good in some respects because it’s so much lighter. Tesla’s multilink front and rear suspension uses all aluminum components, which are much lighter than the Hummer’s steel parts. Between this and the aftermarket fiberglass doors and hood, NAEV estimates the Cyber Hummer, at about 4,100 pounds, is actually 1,800 pounds lighter than a mil-spec Humvee donor vehicle.

Before you go worrying about the strength of that EV suspension, keep in mind a Tesla Model S weighs more than 4,800 pounds, and a Model X, which uses the same suspension, weighs more than 5,500 pounds. The Cyber Hummer is actually light duty for these components. In fact, NAEV thinks it could take another 1,000 pounds off the truck with aluminum bumpers, aluminum cross members, lightweight wheels and tires, and even cutting the fully boxed frame into C-channels for the customer who doesn’t plan to do a lot of serious off-roading.

Of course, Tesla’s suspension wasn’t engineered for extreme off-road duty, so its 4 inches of wheel travel isn’t anything special. Then again, the Humvee also had four-wheel independent suspension with control arms that limited it to less than 7 inches of wheel travel, so it’s not an enormous difference. The bigger issue is a lack of locking differentials, though as Cybertrucks start getting totaled (and their carcasses end up in scrapyards, ready for the picking) that issue could be solved in the future.

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Best-Driving Humvee Ever?

Anyone who’s ever driven a military Humvee knows they’re fairly miserable to drive. Mostly, they’re abysmally slow, but they also don’t stop or handle particularly well. The Tesla parts fix all that in a big way.

Instant-torque electric motors make all the difference in the world. Put your foot down, and the Cyber Hummer leaps forward harder than any Humvee or H1 could ever dream of. We mostly drove in rear-drive mode, as the controller in this development truck doesn’t have an automatic all-wheel-drive mode to vary torque distribution, just a full-time all-wheel-drive mode that sends equal power front and rear and induces serious torque steer when you floor it. NAEV has this truck limited to just 330 horsepower, and it’s still freaky quick. Production models can be juiced up to 1,020 hp and are said to hit 60 mph in as little as 3.5 seconds, which sounds terrifying.

The Humvee came with in-board disc brakes to protect them in hazardous situations, but the Cyber Hummer’s bigger, newer Tesla in-wheel brakes work far better. Add in adjustable regenerative braking, and the truck drives and stops like a far more hardcore Cybertruck. You can even one-pedal drive it.

Modern multilink suspension likewise means the Cyber Hummer handles far better on the road than any street-spec H1, much less a mil-spec Humvee. With an even lower center of gravity and equally wide stance, this truck handles like a modern vehicle, even if it does still take up an entire lane. The tiny Momo steering wheel feels a little silly in such a girthy truck, but it means you won’t bash your knuckles on the door every time you turn it, either. It’s still a tight fit in there. With racing-style buckets fitted, you can actually carry some speed through a corner with this truck, making it a surprisingly fun back-road runner.

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Prototype Means Work In Progress

As a small operation building trucks on commission, NAEV only had its development prototype to lend us.

“Half this truck is Amazon,” NAEV founder Jeffrey Kotulak said with a laugh, quickly adding you can buy high-quality parts on the platform if you know what you’re looking for and willing to pay the price.

This truck has a Model S front motor, Model X rear motor, and a Model 3 Standard Range battery, all from different years. As a result of the mix-and-match parts, neither the traction control nor infotainment system are fully functional. Future builds will use all Model 3 parts (including the Long Range battery) from 2021 and newer cars to eliminate these communication hiccups. Our drive experience wasn’t completely representative, then, but rather a promising peek at how well this can all work.

The traction control was only an issue when off-roading, as it might’ve helped make up for the open differentials, but a bit of old-school technique got us through (i.e. hitting it with a little speed). On pavement, it made no difference at all as far as we could tell.

The bigger issue, which is already being addressed in future builds, is the power steering. NAEV grafted a 50-amp electric motor out of a Prius to the Tesla steering rack, but it’s simply not strong enough. At a stop, it’s like muscling a manual steering rack, and off-road rocks and holes can rip the steering wheel out of your hands. A new 80-amp motor should help a lot.

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You Can Take the Hummer Out of the Military, but …

Some of the Humvee’s inherent eccentricities you just can’t get rid of. It was never built for comfort and quiet, so it quickly gets very loud inside as you approach freeway speeds. It’s not exactly aerodynamic, so there’s a lot of wind noise. The doors don’t seal particularly well, so there’s road noise, too. Still, not having a screaming diesel V-8 struggling to make 195 hp right next to you certainly improves the experience (300 hp in later models, but still).

Getting rid of it, the transmission, and the transfer case didn’t just reduce weight and noise, either. NAEV was able to cut down the massive center tunnel that bisects the cab and install custom bench seats in the middle of each row between the outboard bucket seats. The floor under the benches is still significantly higher than the other seats, so they’re really just for children with short legs.

Some eccentricities are endearing, though. The windshield-mounted wiper motor is just kinda fun, so NAEV kept it. Out back in the truck bed, the company used the empty space under the big, boxy fenders to install a pair of locking storage containers.

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Modern Touches

With this being a complete teardown and rebuild, NAEV can make the Cyber Hummer as fancy as the owner wants it. Premium leather, fancy stereo, maybe a winch; you just sign the check, and they’ll build it. To keep the entry price as low as possible, the company keeps it simple with a single Tesla-like screen to control most things and a few toggle switches under the dash for the rest. Air conditioning is handled by an electric compressor lifted from big-rig sleeper cabs. That, cupholders built into the backs of the center seats (when flipped forward as arm rests), and power windows are about as extravagant as it gets out of the box (though manual windows are an option).

On the outside, all the lighting is new and LED. NAEV also fitted aftermarket lights to this prototype, but every truck will get the now functionless aftermarket hood grille. Aftermarket windshield washer nozzles, meanwhile, do a better job than the original units. A backup camera is optional.

Having an all-Tesla drivetrain also makes charging a thoroughly modern experience. A NACS port in the front bumper works with both Tesla Destination Level 2 chargers and high-power Superchargers. Around town, NAEV estimates the Cyber Hummer is nearly as efficient as its Tesla donor vehicles, but once aerodynamics really come into play at higher speeds, range goes through the floor. Still, the company estimates a range of 200 miles of the Model 3 Long Range pack and potentially up to 300 miles on a larger Model S/X pack. Your mileage may vary.

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Upcycled Doesn’t Mean Cheap

While NAEV has tried to keep costs down by reusing Tesla components instead of engineering proprietary parts, there’s no getting around the fact that a full restoration and powertrain swap takes a lot of labor. Kotulak comes from the Porsche restoration world and knows how expensive it can get, so he and his team designed the Cyber Hummer to be as plug-and-play as possible to avoid ending up with another quarter-million-dollar restomod.

That doesn’t mean it’s a bargain, though. A pickup body like this but with a soft top starts about $100,000. The hard top is extra, and wagon bodies are particularly hard to find in good condition, so they’re more like $140,000 to start. As always, the sky’s the limit if you really want to customize and use high-end finishes. Build time can be as short as three months for a basic build but is usually longer with custom treatments.

To answer your final question, yes, NAEV has been in touch with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s people, but the Governator hasn’t ordered a truck yet. He does already have an electric H1, after all.