GMC’s third EV truck, when you rely the Hummer and the Hummer SUV as two separate vehicles, is the Sierra EV. The posh 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 with regards to towing heavy stuff lengthy distances with out having to recharge usually. Add to that the flexibility to make use of Tremendous Cruise whereas trailering, Lively 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 continues to be utilizing the identical battery packs, however has extra environment friendly motors and software program this time round. GMC can also 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 shall 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 can even use all of these 350+kW charging stations and might 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 massive 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 actual fact, 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 car goes 0-60 in 4.5 seconds as properly. Even with an enormous trailer, getting on the freeway is straightforward. In actual fact, it’s straightforward to overlook you’re 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 vehicles, I couldn’t get my thoughts off of the Airstream camper show that was totally powered by the Sierra EV and will keep that manner for days and even weeks. I’d advocate that each GMC supplier within the nation get a camper to energy since it is a nice promoting level of this car and, I suppose, the Hummer too.
Tenting could be the largest benefit of the 205kWh battery pack. Certain you may tow a lot additional however you may as well keep tenting for for much longer with that vast battery pack and 30A/240V output. I think about individuals who don’t need to be tied to a powered tenting website would love this selection. Add some photo voltaic and you actually might reside off grid ceaselessly with this factor.
And talking of energy, GM confirmed off its GM Power 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 ability 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 ability goes out however didn’t make any guarantees that an instantaneous switchover could be attainable.
The beauty of this method is that the monster 205kWh battery pack contained in the Sierra is built-in and might present energy for weeks. In actual fact, you may 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 also 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 offers the flexibility to boost or decrease the truck by about 2 inches, whereas additionally providing a extra snug journey
- The MultiPro MidGate expandable mattress, which gives room for hauling objects almost 11 toes in size, whereas nonetheless leaving room for a rear-seat passenger
- Obtainable 10,500 kilos max towing
Certain it’s a luxurious model of the Chevy Sierra however in case you are already dropping $70+ok on a 205kWh pickup truck you may as properly get air suspension, 4-wheel steering/crabwalk and a stunning luxurious inside for 20% extra.
My solely grievance about this factor could be that you may in all probability construct 3-4 EVs or 10 PHEVs with this battery and that could be a little bit higher for the planet. The dearth of Carplay/Android Auto is sort of solely mitigated by the inclusion of most apps I exploit (Spotify, Google Maps, and many others).
My large takeaway from this journey was that the top of pickup truck luxurious is that this Sierra EV Denali. Inside and outside, 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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