GMC’s third EV truck, when you rely the Hummer and the Hummer SUV as two separate vans, is the Sierra EV. The luxurious pickup debuted as a $100K 2024 mannequin 1 final 12 months and bought some modest upgrades for 2025. GMC flew us to the hills above Silicon Valley to test it out.
The GMC Sierra EV Denali shares the identical platform because the Chevy Silverado and, to a lesser extent, the GMC Hummer. Chief amongst these is the industry-leading 205+kWh battery pack. That’s round 50% greater than a lot of the competitors, making these autos the one recreation on the town in relation to towing heavy stuff lengthy distances with out having to recharge usually. Add to that the power to make use of Tremendous Cruise whereas trailering, Energetic Air suspension, 4-wheel steering and the Sierra EV is your trailering EV king.
New for 2025, the Sierra EV Denali has a whopping 460-mile vary, up from 440 miles within the 2024 mannequin. GMC remains to be utilizing the identical battery packs, however has extra environment friendly motors and software program this time round. GMC can be providing a 390-mile “Prolonged Vary” selection for $92K. Sierra EV AT4 and Elevation are anticipated to be obtainable the primary half of 2025, pricing can be introduced nearer to launch.
Even with an enormous trailer, that’s nonetheless over 200+ miles of vary or round 3 hours of driving time. The Sierra EV Denali may also use all of these 350+kW charging stations and may add miles as quick as 100 miles in 10 minutes. We’ve seen charging speeds in extra of 360kW which when you divide the 200kWh pack in half appears moderately quick 180kW for every 100kWh sub-pack. Charging from 10%-80% takes about 45 minutes in order that’s including 322 miles in a toilet/meals cease.
2025 GMC Sierra EV Denali expertise
GMC had a very nice course for us to take out to Half Moon Bay from Menlo Park with a lovely cease at a mountain vineyard after which a horse farm for some aggressive trials.
The large takeaway is that vary nervousness is non-existent whenever you begin the day with 460 miles, even when driving a lot of the day over mountains. In truth, I’d say that 460 miles is conservative and even driving to LAX from San Francisco is feasible in response to the Google-powered navigation system. This 760 horsepower and 785 lb-ft of torque in Max Energy mode automobile goes 0-60 in 4.5 seconds as effectively. Even with an enormous trailer, getting on the freeway is straightforward. In truth, it’s straightforward to overlook you might be even trailering, particularly with the Supercruise.
Whereas we had been doing the Crab Stroll time trials and seeing how a lot stuff we might stuff into the MultiPro MidGate expandable mattress vans, I couldn’t get my thoughts off of the Airstream camper show that was totally powered by the Sierra EV and will keep that method for days and even weeks. I’d advocate that each GMC vendor within the nation get a camper to energy since it is a nice promoting level of this automobile and, I assume, the Hummer too.
Tenting could be the largest benefit of the 205kWh battery pack. Certain you possibly can tow a lot additional however you can too keep tenting for for much longer with that vast battery pack and 30A/240V output. I think about individuals who don’t wish to be tied to a powered tenting web site would love this feature. Add some photo voltaic and you actually might stay off grid ceaselessly with this factor.
And talking of energy, GM confirmed off its GM Vitality PowerBank which is the corporate’s reply to Tesla’s Powerwall system. It’s obtainable now and will be a part of the Sierra buy.
The one factor I had an issue with was the switchover time when the facility went out, which was about 4-5 seconds. My Powerwall system, when it goes off Grid/Islanding, is sort of instantaneous to the purpose the place I don’t even discover it and clocks and computer systems don’t even reset. GM mentioned it’s engaged on lowering the time to modify over to off-grid when the facility goes out however didn’t make any guarantees that an instantaneous switchover can be attainable.
The beauty of this method is that the monster 205kWh battery pack contained in the Sierra is built-in and may present energy for weeks. In truth, you might present energy ceaselessly when you took the truck to a quick charger each week or so and introduced it again to energy the home and recharge the batteries. Photo voltaic integration can be attainable however wasn’t demonstrated.
Electrek’s take:
The spec sheet for the GMC Sierra EV Denali is fairly spectacular:
- 760 horsepower and 785 lb-ft of torque in Max Energy mode (4.5 sec 0-60)
- 800 Volt DC public quick charging-capable at as much as 350kW, enabling as much as 100 miles of vary in roughly 10 minutes
- Air Experience Adaptive Suspension, which gives the power to lift or decrease the truck by about 2 inches, whereas additionally providing a extra comfy journey
- The MultiPro MidGate expandable mattress, which provides room for hauling objects almost 11 ft in size, whereas nonetheless leaving room for a rear-seat passenger
- Accessible 10,500 kilos max towing
Certain it’s a luxurious model of the Chevy Sierra however if you’re already dropping $70+ok on a 205kWh pickup truck you may as effectively get air suspension, 4-wheel steering/crabwalk and a stunning luxurious inside for 20% extra.
My solely grievance about this factor can be that you might most likely construct 3-4 EVs or 10 PHEVs with this battery and that could be a bit of higher for the planet. The dearth of Carplay/Android Auto is sort of totally mitigated by the inclusion of most apps I exploit (Spotify, Google Maps, and so on).
My massive takeaway from this journey was that the head of pickup truck luxurious is that this Sierra EV Denali. In and out, it has top-rated specs and efficiency. Nothing comes near that 205kWh battery pack, which, for vary and powering electrical, means the one competitors are GMC’s sister autos, the Silverado and Hummer EV.
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