GMC’s third EV truck, if you count the Hummer and the Hummer SUV as two separate trucks, is the Sierra EV. The luxury pickup debuted as a $100K 2024 model 1 last year and got some modest upgrades for 2025. GMC flew us to the hills above Silicon Valley to check it out.
The GMC Sierra EV Denali shares the same platform as the Chevy Silverado and, to a lesser extent, the GMC Hummer. Chief among these is the industry-leading 205+kWh battery pack. That’s around 50% more than most of the competition, making these vehicles the only game in town when it comes to towing heavy stuff long distances without having to recharge often. Add to that the ability to use Super Cruise while trailering, Active 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 range, up from 440 miles in the 2024 model. GMC is still using the same battery packs, but has more efficient motors and software this time around. GMC is also offering a 390-mile “Extended Range” variety for $92K. Sierra EV AT4 and Elevation are expected to be available the first half of 2025, pricing will be announced closer to launch.
Even with a huge trailer, that’s still over 200+ miles of range or around 3 hours of driving time. The Sierra EV Denali will also use all of those 350+kW charging stations and can add miles as fast as 100 miles in 10 minutes. We’ve seen charging speeds in excess of 360kW which if you divide the 200kWh pack in half seems reasonably fast 180kW for each 100kWh sub-pack. Charging from 10%-80% takes about 45 minutes so that’s adding 322 miles in a bathroom/food stop.
2025 GMC Sierra EV Denali experience
GMC had a really nice course for us to take out to Half Moon Bay from Menlo Park with a beautiful stop at a mountain winery and then a horse farm for some competitive trials.
The big takeaway is that range anxiety is non-existent when you start the day with 400 miles, even when driving most of the day over mountains. This 760 horsepower and 785 lb-ft of torque in Max Power mode vehicle goes 0-60 in 4.5 seconds as well. Even with a huge trailer, getting on the highway is easy. In fact, it is easy to forget you are even trailering, especially with the Supercruise.
While we were doing the Crab Walk time trials and seeing how much stuff we could stuff into the MultiPro MidGate expandable bed trucks, I couldn’t get my mind off of the Airstream camper display that was fully powered by the Sierra EV and could stay that way for days and even weeks.
This might be the biggest advantage of the 205kWh battery pack. Sure you can tow much further but you can also stay camping for much longer with that huge battery pack. I imagine people who don’t want to be tied to a powered camping site would love this option. Add some solar and you really could live off grid forever with this thing.
And speaking of power, GM showed off its GM Energy PowerBank which is the company’s answer to Tesla’s Powerwall system. It is available now and can be part of the Sierra purchase.
The one thing I had a problem with was the switchover time, which was about 4-5 seconds. My Powerwall system, when it goes off Grid/Islanding, is almost instantaneous to the point where I don’t even notice it and clocks and computers don’t even reset. GM said it is working on reducing the time to switch over to off-grid when the power goes out but didn’t make any promises that an instantaneous switchover would be possible.
The great thing about this system is that the monster 205kWh battery pack inside the Sierra is integrated and can provide power for weeks. In fact, you could provide power forever if you took the truck to a fast charger every week or so and brought it back to power the house and recharge the batteries.
Electrek’s take:
The spec sheet for the GMC Sierra EV Denali is pretty impressive:
- 760 horsepower and 785 lb-ft of torque in Max Power mode
- 800 Volt DC public fast charging-capable at up to 350kW, enabling up to 100 miles of range in approximately 10 minutes
- Air Ride Adaptive Suspension, which provides the ability to raise or lower the truck by about 2 inches, while also offering a more comfortable ride
- The MultiPro MidGate expandable bed, which offers room for hauling items nearly 11 feet in length, while still leaving room for a rear-seat passenger
- Available 10,500 pounds max towing
Sure it is a luxury version of the Chevy Sierra but if you are already dropping $70+k on a 205kWh pickup truck you might as well get air suspension, 4-wheel steering/crabwalk and a gorgeous luxury interior for 20% more.
My only complaint about this thing would be that you could probably build 3-4 EVs or 10 PHEVs with this battery and that might be a little better for the planet.
My big takeaway from this trip was that the pinnacle of pickup truck luxury is this Sierra EV Denali. Inside and out, it has top-rated specs and performance. Nothing comes close to that 205kWh battery pack, which, for range and powering electric, means the only competition are GMC’s sister vehicles, the Silverado and Hummer EV.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
