Where we’re going, we don’t need roads. We just need electric.
Every year, Super Bowl commercials do a good job of showing us what to look forward to in the future. From technology, movie trailers, even food, there isn’t a subject shied away from.
But this year at Super Bowl LIV, one thing seemed to be pushed more than others—electric cars.
Regular vehicles were also featured during the game, but the three that stood out prefer voltage to gasoline.
Hummer EV
The full spot starts with a pack of horses galloping full speed, shots of gears turning, and then a motorcycle speeding down a racetrack. These respectively symbolize the Hummer EV’s 1,000 hp, its 11,500 lb-ft of torque, and its 0-60 mph time of three seconds.
The ad gets some help from NBA star Lebron James providing a voice-over as well as him dunking a basketball and shattering the glass, before GMC calls it the sound of “pure dominance.”
As the ad finishes, it teases the previously-released image of the vehicle’s grill along with the May 20 reveal date. Hummer has been out of production since 2010, but instead of being a standalone brand, it’s being produced under the GMC division of General Motors.
Audi E-Tron
The ad showed Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) stuck in a traffic jam behind the wheel of the new Audi E-Tron Sportback filled with angry drivers and fumes from their cars. Williams belts out Disney Frozen’s ‘Let it Go’ while getting away from the traffic.
This seems to signify less reliance on fossil fuels and more on electricity for our vehicles in the future. Audi’s first e-tron was released in 2019, where over 3500 of them were registered in the United States.
Porsche Taycan
This one has security guards at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany hopping into various Porsche models, new and old (including a tractor), and chasing down a burglar who ran off with the newest model, the electric Taycan.
The quietness of the vehicle is hinted at as the thief slowly tries to creep the car out of the museum.
A heart-racing chase through the streets of Germany ensues before the thief is cut off on a bridge. The twist is that it’s not actually a thief, but another guard in a staff-wide games of cops and robbers, before another employee takes her turn as the thief.
This commercial seems not so much an ad for an electric car as it is a love letter to fans of the brand, but nonetheless showcases the future of next-generation electrics. However it’s the priciest on this list — starting at $105,510.
Not seen surprisingly this year was Tesla, who has been soaring in the stock market lately and whose Model 3 is the best-selling electric vehicle in the U.S., according to InsideEVs. One would think that the front-runner of the electric movement would make some kind of appearance at the Super Bowl.
Despite this, companies that sell electric vehicles are trying to make it known that there are alternatives to the usual gas-powered mode of personal transportation. They seem to be trying to show us, whether you’re looking for something for everyday use or just for the racetrack, that electrics are in it for the long-haul.
