The Hummer began its life as a military vehicle: AM General first built the Humvee in the 1980s for the U.S. armed forces, a blunt machine designed to overcome even the worst road conditions. A decade later, General Motors licensed the Humvee design, renamed it the "Hummer", and marketed it as the antidote for meek, polite suburbia. The H1, H2, and H3 models all followed, with different degrees of swagger, all trading on the same action-movie bravado that even got a cameo in the daft 2002 film Collateral Damage. The brand had its moment, then collided with fuel prices, climate anxiety, and its own parody. By 2010, sales had plummeted and it was shelved by GM, a reminder that culture can outpace product. At least, for a while...
Its return as the Hummer EV eleven years later (model year 2022) did not eschew its colorful, gas-guzzling past as much as update it with new, modern tech. Under GMC, the Hummer is an electric pickup and SUV, swapping road chewing gasoline spectacle for, well, road chewing battery excitement. The engineering is earnest, with four-wheel steering, serious off-road geometry, and acceleration fast enough to leave amateur sports car drivers speechless, all wrapped in styling that is a clear homage to the original, rugged design. Where the original Hummer was selling excess as virtue, the Hummer EV sells excess as cool technology. It is less an apology than a wager that a combustion-era icon can survive by learning a new language.
And it's ridiculously large, and ridiculously fun to drive.
With that in mind, it's no wonder I yelled "Get to the Choppah!" when GMC offered me the chance to tackle both the local streets and Colorado Rocky Mountains in a 2026 GMC Hummer EV 3X Pickup. The exterior is "Magnus Grey Matte", and it's gorgeous, while the interior is the perhaps overly excitingly named "Velocity Ember":
The first thing you notice is that it's not so easy to get into the vehicle. I learned to place my right foot in the cab, then hoist myself in with the conveniently placed handle. Getting out is a bit tricky too, requiring a maneuver I referred to as "the slide". As a daily drive this might get tedious, but it's worth it because once you're in the Hummer EV, it's excellent. I did mention that "EV" stood for "Enormous Vehicle", right?
This is one of the widest consumer vehicles I've ever driven. Stats wise, my little Mazda CX-5 is a humble 72.6 inches wide, a compact SUV. The Hummer? It's a beefy 86.7 inches wide without side mirrors, 93.7 inches with them factored in. More comically, the CX-5 has a curb weight of 3700 pounds, while the Hummer EV weighs in at a heft 9,000 pounds. For comparison, the Chevy Silverado Lightning EV pickup weighs about 8,100 pounds (3WT) and the much maligned Tesla Cybertruck? That's a relatively svelte 6,100 pounds.
The Hummer is so wide that I found it tricky to park because in a typical parking lot, it's line-to-line wide, leaving almost no space for doors to be opened. Of course, the drivers of those puny mortal vehicles on either side can't get into their cars either, but, hey, that's their problem, right? 😉 My solution was to park at the far edges of lots, which had the nice additional benefit of adding to my daily step count.
From a design perspective, everything about the Hummer EV is big and rugged, as you can see in the cockpit photo. No discrete, semi-hidden air vents for climate controls, no button on the dash to change gears, everything feels ready for battle. Even the center console...
There's nothing to confuse the driver, this offered a macho gear shift, basic drive modes, wireless phone charging (phones? we don't need no stinkin' phones!) and places to store stuff. Oorah!
Since it's an EV, of course, there are no actual gears, so this is basically a stick that lets you choose between go forward, go backwards, don't go. The vehicle itself has a tri-motor design, delivering 570 horsepower and a crackin' 7400 lb-ft of torque. It's e4WD and can blow your socks off with a 0-60 acceleration of 3.0 seconds. I kid you not. This enormous beast has an enormous amount of power and acceleration that makes driving it unexpectedly fun. With its four wheel steering, it's also quite nimble. Well, except in parking lots, where it feels like you're an elephant clomping through a field full of gazelles.
The steering wheel controls are beautifully symmetric, though being a GMC vehicle it has the annoying volume and next/prev track controls behind the steering wheel bar, left and right sides, respectively, so it's impossible to know which is which. That's just not good design, GMC.
Speaking of infotainment systems, it's worth mentioning that this is the first GMC vehicle to have the new Google-based operating system that does not include support for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. It's a conscious design decision on their part, but I really disliked it, missing my CarPlay especially when wanting to use maps without entering addresses twice. Definitely something to evaluate.
Behind the steering wheel is the main gauge and information display:
Time, date, temperature, current audio track, speed, the speed limit (admittedly tiny), and battery status: 37%, all attractively shown. Fully charged, the 3X Pickup has an estimated range with the standard battery pack of 312 miles. Add the extended range option and you can bump that up to 365 miles or so, but at the cost of more weight.
It's hard to get a sense of just how big the inner cab is but that front windshield is surprisingly far away. It has removable ceiling panels and a complicated overhead control center:
This is at least twice the width of the center ceiling controls on most vehicles, and you'll have to lean forward to reach it. I didn't pop the "Sky Panels" out, but it's easy to do, and I believe that these panels, in their protective bags, can then fit in the frunk. Yep, no front engine:
The charging cables and bags for the Sky Panels took up a surprising amount of this space, but you could rearrange things to allow a rucksack or backpack in a pinch. Unless you're enjoying the Infinity Roof, having removed the Sky Panels and stored them in this space, that is.
Given how everything else with the Hummer EV 3X Pickup was oversized, it was a surprise to recognize that there wasn't a huge amount of legroom. Let's be candid, it's not like GMC couldn't have just stretched the entire vehicle out another foot, but as shown above, if you have a tall driver, those back passengers might be wondering how they ended up with coach seats, not business class.
The truck bed, with spray on bed liner (included), is a pretty typical 5-feet in length. The tailgate features the terrific GMC multi-panel Multiro design, and there are plenty of cargo tie downs to ensure your gear doesn't fly off at highway speeds.
I had way more fun driving this Enormous Vehicle EV than I expected when GMC dropped it off. Would I buy one as my daily drive? No. But not because it isn't a powerhouse vehicle with excellent curb appeal, just simply because for my commute and driving region, its size is a bit of a liability. Up in the mountains or in more rural areas this would be an absolute winner. Definitely one to check out if this appeals to you!
2026 GMC Hummer EV 3X Pickup, with 3-motor performance e4WD. BASE PRICE: $104,700. Options Included: Carbon Fibre Edition, GM NACS DC Adapter. AS DRIVEN: $122,370.00.
Disclaimer: GMC loaned me the Hummer EV for a week in return for this candid write-up. This article originally appeared on PlanetDave.com with the title The 2026 GMC Hummer EV Pickup is an Enormous Vehicle and is republished with permission of the author.
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