GMC’s third EV truck, if you happen to rely the Hummer and the Hummer SUV as two separate vehicles, is the Sierra EV. The luxurious pickup debuted as a $100K 2024 mannequin 1 final 12 months and acquired 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 many of the competitors, making these automobiles the one recreation on the town in relation to towing heavy stuff lengthy distances with out having to recharge typically. 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 be providing a 390-mile “Prolonged Vary” selection for $92K. Sierra EV AT4 and Elevation are anticipated to be accessible the primary half of 2025, pricing will likely 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 if you happen to divide the 200kWh pack in half appears fairly 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 wonderful 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 many of the day over mountains. Actually, I’d say that 460 miles is conservative and even driving to LAX from San Francisco is feasible based on 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 nicely. Even with an enormous trailer, getting on the freeway is straightforward. Actually, it’s simple to neglect 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 may stuff into the MultiPro MidGate expandable mattress vehicles, I couldn’t get my thoughts off of the Airstream camper show that was absolutely powered by the Sierra EV and will keep that approach for days and even weeks. I’d advocate that each GMC supplier within the nation get a camper to energy since this can be 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. I think about individuals who don’t need to be tied to a powered tenting web site would love this selection. Add some photo voltaic and you actually may 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 accessible now and may 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 nearly instantaneous to the purpose the place I don’t even discover it and clocks and computer systems don’t even reset. GM stated it’s engaged on decreasing the time to change over to off-grid when the ability goes out however didn’t make any guarantees that an instantaneous switchover can be doable.
The wonderful thing about this method is that the monster 205kWh battery pack contained in the Sierra is built-in and might present energy for weeks. Actually, you can present energy ceaselessly if you happen to took the truck to a quick charger each week or so and introduced it again to energy the home and recharge the batteries.
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 Journey Adaptive Suspension, which supplies the flexibility to lift or decrease the truck by about 2 inches, whereas additionally providing a extra snug experience
- The MultiPro MidGate expandable mattress, which presents room for hauling objects almost 11 ft in size, whereas nonetheless leaving room for a rear-seat passenger
- Out there 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 nicely 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 can most likely construct 3-4 EVs or 10 PHEVs with this battery and that could be somewhat higher for the planet. The dearth of Carplay/Android Auto is nearly fully mitigated by the inclusion of most apps I exploit (Spotify, Google Maps, and many others).
My huge 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 automobiles, the Silverado and Hummer EV.
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