The day’s drive route followed La Honda Road west to the junction of Skyline Boulevard. At the intersection of these two roads you’ll find the famed Alice’s Restaurant, a popular motorcycle stop. I’ve been on this road many times, and aside from this latest visit, every time I’ve come here it was on a motorcycle. You see, the mountain roads just south of San Francisco are ultra-narrow, unfathomably twisty, and better suited for two wheels than driving a truck nearly six metres long.
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With sweaty palms and gritting my teeth, I maneuvered the beast around tight turns, hugging the shoulder so as not to poke its nose into the oncoming lane, lest some unsuspecting soul round a bend in the other direction. However, despite its size and weight (about 4,250 kg), the 2025 GMC Sierra EV Denali handled the serpentine sliver of pavement with remarkable poise, rounding hairpins tightly and with impressive precision — when driven at a modest pace, of course.
The ace up its sleeve for rounding corners (or squeezing into tight parking spots) is its four-wheel steering, which enables the rear wheels to turn up to 7.5 degrees from centre in either direction, thus tightening its turning circle to about that of a midsized crossover. Other handling enhancers includeair ride adaptive suspension that can be set to ride low (50 mm of total ride-height adjustability) to help lower the centre of gravity, and its wide and uber-blingy 24-inch wheels and low-profile tires.
No, the Sierra EV cannot be called nimble — far from it. However, for a full-sized pickup carrying 205 kWh of battery power, it negotiated the tight roads with surprising ease. In fact, after spending a day in the Sierra EV, I can’t help but be impressed with many aspects of this well-executed, comfortable, and practical electric pickup.
2025 GMC Sierra EV is powerful and can drive far
The spec sheet alone is impressive: The Sierra claims 760 horsepower and 785 lb-ft of torque. If it’s important to you as a pickup driver, it’ll force you into the driver’s seat as it blasts from zero to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds. Add a tenth or two for the zero to 100 km/h time and that’s still sports-car quick. A big battery means big range, and the Sierra’s claims are big: up to 740 km on a full charge for the Max Range variant I tested, or a still-impressive 627 km for the lesser Extended Range model. It has two electric motors — one front, one rear — that enable its e4WD system.
It has the capability to accept up to 350 kW of charging power. It does this by utilizing relays to automatically re-wire its batteries from parallel to series, or from 400 volts to 800 volts DC. It’s one of the Sierra EV’s “key features” according to GMC, and when using such a charger, you can get a 160-km charge in just 10 minutes.
The caveat, of course, is that (according to Electrify Canada) there are fewer than 50 of these super-fast chargers across the country, concentrated in B.C. and Alberta in the west, and Ontario and Quebec in the east. Even on GMC’s website, the claim of the Sierra’s super-fast charging capability is denoted by the disclaimer that the chargers are in “extremely limited supply.” GM has expanded the charging capability, however, by recently offering an optional NACS DC adapter ($310) that enables the use of Tesla superchargers — and there are almost 18,000 of those across the country.
It the 2025 GMC Sierra EV big?
Up close, the Sierra is big, but surprisingly, unlike some of its ICE-powered showroom mates, it doesn’t seem gargantuan. The frunk hood sits relatively low, and the roof arrives at about at the top of my head, at six feet. The low height is enabled by the air ride adaptive suspension (which raises and lowers the truck over a 50 mm range), and it makes stepping into and out of the truck easier.
Once inside, I found the interior to be inconspicuously understated and uncluttered; not flashy or loud, but rather a well-balanced blend of luxury and simplicity. Surfaces are straight and flat, and subtle touches include real wood trim that is accentuated by just a touch of chrome bordering. There are very few buttons. Most vehicle functions are handled by a 16.8-inch central, vertically oriented touchscreen and a row of toggles below it, and you’ll find the usual array of steering-wheel buttons. Above you is a fixed panoramic glass roof.
But is it useful?
For me, pickups are all about utility. Sure, luxury and performance are bonuses, but a pickup has to be able to get its hands dirty — you have to be able to get more than just a couple of planters into the truck bed. When it comes to utility, the Sierra EV is a proper truck — and then some.
For starters, it has a useful six-foot bed (okay, its 5’11” if you’re a stickler for specifics). The bed is easy to load when the truck is lowered (try rolling a motorcycle up a ramp resting on the tailgate of a Sierra AT4). The Sierra EV boasts a 10,500 lb. maximum towing capacity.
It features a MultiPro midgate — the back wall of the cab folds out of the way in a few configurations, opening up the cab to access the box. If you just want some airflow in the cab, you can pop out the rear window (it stows safely out of the way in the midgate). You can lower each section of the 60/40-split midgate independently after folding down the 60/40 rear seat. With the rear glass out and the entire midgate is folded flat, bed length extends to just over nine feet — useful in fair weather, of course. Drop the Multipro tailgate and bed length extends to a full 10 feet 10 inches.
We’ve seen a midgate before on the Chevy Avalanche, but it is much better executed on the Sierra, and the cab is surprisingly quiet when it’s up. With practice it takes about 30 seconds to put down or up. If you’re still short on cargo space, 311 litres of storage is available in the frunk, which has a pair of drain holes so you can use it as a cooler.
Useful but not accessible
Okay, those are relatively common uses for a pickup. Less common but perhaps even more useful are the Sierra’s off-board and vehicle to home (V2H) power capabilities. You can access up to 10.2 kW of off-board power at a job site or tailgate party via 120- and 240-volt outlets in the bed.
More critically, available from GM Energy are the PowerShift bi-directional charger, power inverter, and home hub (breaker and distribution panel), all of which turn the Sierra EV into a powerful backup energy supply for your home. Once installed, the system is designed to kick in automatically if the power cuts while the Sierra is being charged. During a demonstration, auxiliary power was initiated about five seconds after the main power was cut.
According to GM testing, the Sierra EV can power a home, at reduced power usage, for up to 21 days. Under normal usage, including heating or air conditioning, and other non-critical consumption items, you can probably get up to five days of power, which is still enough to cover almost any non-apocalyptic blackout. Various V2H systems are available from GM Energy; the most complete system includes the bi-directional charger, a power inverter, an energy hub, and (launched last October) GM’s PowerBank battery. The system (with 10.6 kW battery) retails for $12,700USD, before installation.
The big problem with GM Energy’s V2H products is that they are not available in Canada, and there’s no word yet on when or if they will be available.
What’s it like to drive the GMC Sierra EV?
Unsurprisingly, the ride is quiet and smooth, yet firm, and the there’s some harshness that transfers into the cabin over sharp bumps, most likely a result of the 24-inch low-profile rubber. The Sierra’s one-pedal driving is rather abrupt when lifting, and even so with a trailer hooked up. When enabled, the regen is strong enough to slow down like you’re jabbing at the brake pedal. Once I get accustomed to it, though, I didn’t change back.
We did some exercises on dirt (not off-roading) to further experience the Sierra’s four-wheel steering capabilities. When driving quickly on a twisty course the rear end pivoted around and felt like it was sliding out, but it followed steering-wheel inputs and immediately came back in line when straightening out. It proved particularly useful when backing into a simulated tight parking spot.
Like on the Hummer EV, the Sierra has a CrabWalk mode, in which the rear wheels turn in the same direction as the front so that the truck moves slightly sideways. I’m not sure of the usefulness of this feature other than being somewhat of a novelty, but it can probably help get you out of a tight spot.
I also pulled a 5,500-lb. closed trailer for a brief 22 kilometres, and it’s amazing what the instantaneous, abundant torque of the two electric motors does when hauling a load. Acceleration was seamless and almost as quick as without the trailer. And because of the Sierra’s mass, the trailer has little effect on the truck when accelerating or braking, providing a ride that’s devoid of any front-to-rear oscillation. Of course, the heavier the trailer, the more the range will be affected, and my drive was too short to make a range estimate.
The SuperCruise (free for a three-year trial then you have to subscribe) worked very well on the highway, steering itself and changing lanes automatically when the turn signal was engaged. The self-driving feature worked equally as well when pulling the trailer, though the auto lane-change was disabled.
The bottom line
The 2025 GMC Sierra EV Denali has a $118,599 starting price (including dealer and A/C fees); the Max Range version starts at $122,599. That’s significantly more than the base Silverado EV, which starts at $78,000 (though it can go up to $120,870). However, being a Denali, it is more luxuriously appointed and fully loaded.
By pickup standards the Sierra EV is a very useful tool, but just a very different tool than the traditional ICE pickup. It’s well thought out, brilliantly designed, highly functional, and it might make you reconsider about how you think about pickups. It’s just unfortunate that access to its most appealing features, like the super-fast charging and V2H capability, is either limited or not available at all. For now, at least?
The Sierra EV Denali should be arriving at dealers this fall. More affordable Sierra EV Elevation and the off-road-ready AT4 models will be launched in mid-2025.
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