Combining electrical energy with pickup vans is both a match made in heaven or one made in hell. On the facet of the angels: Electrical motors are nice for off-roading; truck chassis have ample room for a battery; you by no means want fear about guzzling gasoline. On the opposite facet: Vary and charging points compromise lengthy journeys; towing reduces vary considerably additional; batteries make them heavier; they’re pricier than ICE equivalents.
So in true American trend, Common Motors is letting the market determine. Like Ford, GM is providing its full-size pickups in each internal-combustion and battery-powered kinds (even when, in contrast to the F-150 Lightning, they’re constructed on an EV-specific platform). However whereas the Chevrolet Silverado EV got here in primary Work Truck kind first, the GMC Sierra EV first arrived final yr in upscale Denali trim—with a price ticket slightly below six figures.
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The Lowdown:
Will Sabel Courtney
The GMC Sierra EV is the badge-engineered twin of the Chevrolet Silverado EV that entered manufacturing in 2023 and cousin to the Hummer EV pickup and SUV pairing that debuted in late 2021. The Sierra EV launched for 2024 because the Denali Version 1, representing GMC’s luxurious subbrand that is bought greater than 2 million SUVs and vans because it was first slapped on a Yukon in 1998. As with the Silverado EV, the GMC is available in only one physique fashion, a crew-cab short-bed configuration which affords the flexibility to open a passage between mattress and cabin.
The 2025 Sierra EV Denali affords a alternative of two battery sizes: a 170-kWh Prolonged Vary model with an EPA-rated 390 miles of vary and a 205-kWh Max Vary model that provides 460 miles of vary, in line with the federal authorities, for $8500 extra (placing the most recent Sierra EV over $100K mark). The twin-motor drive system’s output is an identical for each batteries, nevertheless.
Automobile Examined: 2025 GMC Sierra EV Denali
Base Worth: $91,995
Worth as Examined: $102,085
Location: New York
Extra Specs
Powertrain: Twin electrical motor, all-wheel-drive
Energy: 754 hp
Torque: 785 lb-ft
0-60 mph: 4.1 seconds (Automobile and Driver testing)
Battery Capability: 205 kWh (usable)
Weight: 8987 lbs
EPA Vary: 390 miles / 440 miles
How Does It Drive?
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Choose Max Energy mode—a reputation that can get many pondering of Homer Simpson’s alter ego—and the Sierra EV Denali’s entrance and rear motors can ship peaks of as much as 760 hp and 785 lb-ft of torque. (GMC says it makes round 400 hp in Regular mode.) Left within the default, the Sierra EV is peppy however not passionate. Press the button for the proverbial afterburners, although, and the precise pedal delivers acceleration that shoves you correctly again in your seat. Automobile and Driver’s 4.1-second 0-to-60-mph time for the 2024 mannequin feels spot-on, and the truth that its 4.4-second 5-to-60 time matches that of an Audi RS 6 Avant boggles the thoughts.
However you will pay should you strap in and really feel the g’s too usually. As with all EVs, with regards to vary, slower means farther—particularly on the freeway. (The Denali does include GM’s wonderful Tremendous Cruise hands-free freeway driving help, which makes sticking to the restrict considerably simpler for the lead-footed.) And whereas its mighty vary appears to be like unbelievable on paper, you continue to must drive attentively to get close to it. On my check truck the vary prediction was 431 miles from 92 % cost once I picked it up, however after 317 miles (with two-thirds freeway) that fell to 6 %—suggesting a real-world vary with the larger battery of slightly below 380 miles. Granted, that was in roughly freezing circumstances that trigger all EVs to undergo, however nothing atypical for anybody dwelling north of the fortieth parallel.
Will Sabel Courtney
The Sierra EV’s mechanically an identical Silverado EV twin has been criticized for taking a speedboat-like prow-up angle below laborious acceleration. Whereas my alternatives to hammer the GMC had been restricted by wintry climate, driving it in the best way most consumers will for more often than not did not reveal any really off-putting conduct. The hugeness of the near-9000-pound weight is clear—there is no such thing as a solution to erase the inertia of that quantity of mass raised excessive. However total I discovered it felt much less floaty than the GMC Hummer EV SUV I drove a month earlier than, little doubt partially because of the GMC’s much less off-road-focused tires and suspension.
The brakes felt a bit spongey because the Sierra EV balances out retardation by regeneration and the calipers. On the steering wheel a paddle on the 9 o’clock place triggers regen-only deceleration, and primarily based on how laborious this may haul the truck down, I doubt those that select to make use of the left pedal shall be utilizing the friction brakes for something however the ultimate mph coming to a halt and panic stops.
Will Sabel Courtney
These brakes even have 17-inch discs. They solely look small as a result of they’re behind 24-inch wheels.
The heavy steering additionally lacked among the delicacy present in GM’s gas-powered body-on-frame SUVs and pickups, but it surely has no slop—and four-wheel steering provides this beast sudden agility at low speeds, even when it does imply you need to recalibrate your mind for parallel-parking angles.
What’s It Prefer to Dwell with?
Will Sabel Courtney
The GMC Sierra EV is what scientists describe as a BFT. As with all massive automobile, that is nice in some methods, not a lot in others. At 19.5 toes in size, it stretches two inches farther from bumper to bumper than a traditional Sierra 1500 in frequent crew-cab short-bed kind, though its Honda Ridgeline-esque profile makes it appear even longer than its ICE sibling. Suffice it to say, city parking is difficult.
The size pays advantages for individuals and cargo, nevertheless, and this EV has two usability benefits ICE pickups lack. Beneath the hood, there’s an 11-cubic-foot frunk as a substitute of an engine, whereas in again GM’s proprietary MultiPro Midgate creates a passage from the mattress to the cabin with the rear seats folded away, making area for longer gadgets like canoes and kayaks (although doing so additionally opens the cabin to exterior air, which is why I did not check it in February.)
Will Sabel Courtney
Few automobiles on sale right now can evaluate to full-size crew-cab pickups with regards to inside area, and the Sierra EV isn’t any totally different. The back and front seats alike have extra legroom, shoulder room, and headroom than a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, if not fairly the luxurious. There’s loads of leather-based to be discovered, and the entrance seats are loads comfy, however the second row is extra like one of many extra-legroom seats in an plane financial system part than a very luxurious expertise. The EV Denali isn’t any penalty field, but it surely’s a far cry from the sybaritic Ram 1500 Tungsten—and even GMC’s personal Denali Final cabins.
The inside’s solely visible highlights are the strip of darkish, unvarnished wooden trim on the dashboard and the 16.8-inch touchscreen. This lacks Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (like all present GM EVs) however makes up for it effectively with its responsive nature, customizable menus, built-in Google Maps, and downloadable apps like Waze and Spotify. Log in to the applications you want and pair your telephone through Bluetooth for calls, and the whole lot ought to work high-quality. At the least till the complementary knowledge plan runs out and you need to pay up for the options CarPlay does without cost.
Vary has lengthy been the most important downside with electrical automobiles, so for its plus-size fashions GM has used the identical strategy that created the massive block: Throw displacement on the downside. To allow its EPA-rated 460 miles of driving, the Max Vary’s battery pack is sort of 4 instances the dimensions of an entry-level Tesla Mannequin 3’s. However an enormous chassis and an enormous battery add as much as large poundage. The Sierra EV Denali Max Vary suggestions the scales at 8800 kilos. For perspective, that is 60 % heavier than the 5500-pound Sierra 1500 AT4X. The Sierra EV is a daily half-ton pickup sporting a Porsche 911 Carrera backpack.
Will Sabel Courtney
The largest downside with dwelling with the Sierra EV is not one GM engineers can repair, sadly: the continued inadequacies of a public charging infrastructure with too few fast-chargers and a complicated patchwork of networks and apps. My time with the truck introduced a number of reminders of how far we have to go, with nonfunctioning chargers, lengthy traces for functioning ones, and the necessity to limp by the Bronx and Manhattan in a snowstorm earlier than lastly finding a working plug.
As soon as hooked as much as shore energy, the Sierra EV did a very good job of scooping up electrons, its 800-volt system permitting it to cap out at a brisk 242 kW of cost. With an much more potent DC charger, the truck can tackle juice at as much as 350 kW, though that may imply discovering some of the highly effective CCS1 chargers in optimum circumstances.
Ought to I Purchase One?
Will Sabel Courtney
We aren’t going accountable GM for the restrictions of the charging infrastructure, however—as with different EVs—a very powerful query for potential consumers to ask is whether or not they’ll be capable to cost the electrical Sierra at dwelling each time they need to. Doing that, realistically, means having greater than a daily 6-kW AC line, which might take over 33 hours to pack 200 kWh into the cells. Realistically, you will have an 11-kW or a 19.2-kW dwelling charger.
But when that does work, the Sierra EV Denali stacks up effectively towards rivals. Rivian’s exceptional R1T performs in a smaller measurement class, and whereas it is made nice strides, Rivian continues to be a younger firm requiring prospects to have an early-adopter mindset. The Ford F-150 Lightning performs issues as truck-traditional as attainable, other than its powertrain; different motorists in all probability will not notice it is electrical till you toss your backpack below the hood. As for the Tesla Cybertruck, both you are a Cybertruck individual otherwise you ain’t. However none can match the Sierra (or Silverado) with regards to vary, and I might argue the GMC is essentially the most visually interesting of the bunch too.
However until you are utterly bought on the electrical truck way of life, the most important argument towards the Sierra EV Denali sits subsequent to it on the lot. A completely loaded Sierra 1500 Denali Final—a step above common Denali on the trim ladder, with cabin enhancements to match—prices round $11,000 lower than the Sierra EV Denali Max Vary’s base value. The gasoline model clearly denies consumers the possibility to boast of a low-carbon way of life, but it surely additionally unlocks the quickest “charging” attainable: You will by no means want greater than 5 minutes so as to add greater than 500 miles of vary.
Will Sabel Courtney
This was so far as I used to be keen to go along with the Midgate on a windy 22ºF day.
Highlights and LowlightsWe Like: Class-leading vary that nearly (however not fully) banishes anxiousness. Assured, decisive future-forward styling. Stupendous room for individuals and cargo alike.We Don’t: Have to faucet a button to get the total energy output. Experience and dealing with do not match as much as GM’s internal-combustion full-size pickups. The load: almost as a lot as 4 Miatas.Favourite Element:
Will Sabel Courtney
The Max Energy button. I’ll not like the truth that it’s a necessity, however a minimum of GM has a bit enjoyable with it by making it stand aside on the drive-mode show and giving it a pictogram of Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, straight out of a comic book e-book. Faucet it, and never solely does the cabin fill with a dramatic hum, however the button crackles and lights up blue.
Associated Tales
Will Sabel Courtney is a contributing editor at Street & Monitor. A 12-year veteran of journalism, he previously labored at Gear Patrol, The Drive and RIDES Journal, and contributed to the New York Day by day Information and Jalopnik, amongst different retailers. You possibly can usually discover him test-driving new vehicles in New York Metropolis, cursing the slow-moving site visitors surrounding him.
