GM plans to build a military prototype of the GMC Hummer EV starting in 2022

• GM Defense is working on prototype vehicles for the US military based on the GMC Hummer EV.
• GM executives told CNBC the vehicle would use the electric Hummer's motors, frame, and battery.

The Hummer went on sale in the early 1990s as a military vehicle for the streets. Now General Motors is building a new lineup of electric Hummers - and it's trying to take the model back to its military roots.

GM Defense plans to build a military prototype based on its upcoming GMC Hummer EV, company executives told CNBC. It's calling the vehicle the "electric Light Reconnaissance Vehicle," or eLRV.

The eLRV won't look like the consumer Hummer EV launching later this year, CNBC reported. But, it will share some of the model's basic underpinnings, like its frame, motors, and battery pack. GM Defense aims to start building Hummer-based prototypes for evaluation by the military in 2022, an executive told the outlet.

The GMC Hummer EV pickup goes on sale this fall in the $112,595 Edition 1 trim. It'll be followed by less expensive pickups over the next few years and a Hummer EV SUV in 2023. GM hasn't sold vehicles using the Hummer name since shuttering the brand in 2010.

The original Hummer, the hulking SUV that epitomized American gas-guzzling excess of the 1990s and early 2000s, was closely related to the US military's Humvee that saw battle around the world. Any electric vehicles the US buys now would be used in a more limited capacity, CNBC reported.

The limitations of charging mean the US can't confidently use EVs for all its military operations quite yet, despite the benefits of reduced noise and pollution, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks told CNBC.

"Electrifying the non-tactical fleet, that's a no-brainer," she said.