2025 GMC Sierra EV Denali Review: Chargeable Cowboy Caddy
The verdict: With 460 miles of range, 760 horsepower and 785 pounds-feet of torque, the maxed-out 2025 GMC Sierra EV Denali is one of the most numerically impressive electric trucks on the market. It doesn’t hurt that it’s one of the most luxurious, too.
Versus the competition: CrabWalk, big range, bigger power and a lofty towing capacity put the Sierra EV well in the same league as the Ford F-150 Lightning and Tesla Cybertruck, but in Denali trim, it’s also heavier and more expensive.
If you’re reading this review to make your decision between this 2025 GMC Sierra EV and the Chevrolet Silverado EV, don’t bother. These trucks, in equivalent trims, are mechanically and functionally identical — same range, same power, same torque, same neato midgate and same multiposition tailgate.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be; with a few exceptions, this is the playbook followed by the gas-powered GMC Sierra 1500 and Chevy Silverado 1500 for a few decades now. Deciding between these electric trucks comes entirely down to which wrapper fits your style best, with distinct exterior designs and subtle differences in interior presentation and tech.
Related: 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV First Edition RST Review: All the Bells, All the Whistles
So, we’ll start there. The 2024 Silverado EV First Edition RST we reviewed in May started at $96,495 (including destination) and was nicely equipped, but its presentation and interior styling might lean a bit too strongly on the “sport truck” aesthetic for some buyers. Look to the Sierra EV’s $100,495 Denali range-topping trim for maturity; where the RST peppers red and blue accents throughout the cabin, the Denali is dichromatic, oscillating between black, silver and gray, with heavy and surprisingly proud use of gloss-black plastic.
I’m not the biggest fan of the latter, but its open-pore wood is a welcome addition. For those accustomed to the finery of GMC’s gas-powered Denalis elsewhere in its lineup, you’ll feel right at home in this Cowboy Cadillac, which offers every manner of cossetting comfort feature short of massage seats. Metal trim is a nice touch, especially with the subtle ghost inscription of Mount Denali’s coordinates on the front passenger-side dash trim.
Tech Trek
The biggest difference between the Denali and the RST is the former’s towering 16.8-inch vertically oriented infotainment touchscreen. Compare this to the Silverado EV RST’s sprawling 17.7-inch horizontal infotainment display and make your decision; both trucks handle driver instrumentation via an 11-inch digital cluster and 14-inch head-up display.
Google Built-In technology takes the place of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and it works well enough that I wasn’t too annoyed at the lack of phone projection. GMC’s digital architecture is crisp, aesthetically dark, and reactive enough to never frustrate or stutter. As is the case on many high-end GM sleds, most vehicle controls are handled on the display with areas of customizable “pins” to dock your favorite or frequent functions.
Cushion for Pushin’
It’s a luxe place to spend your time truckin’, that’s for sure. Backseat passengers are similarly swaddled, though the trim appointments aren’t quite as bountiful as those up front. This is a big-ass truck, if you’ll pardon the phrase, so head-, shoulder and legroom are never an issue in any seat.
It drives silky, too. The Denali rides on a standard air suspension and is backed by excellent brake blend (the balance between the physical brakes and regenerative braking system) that makes maneuvering free of the traditional EV touchiness. It also has rear-wheel steering, which makes the truck’s hulking dimensions merely a state of existence, not a hindrance.
It’s all very smooth and refined, though we curiously didn’t find the same cushy charisma in the Silverado EV when we tested the Chevy. I’ll say this: Like airplane turbulence and music volume, what’s extreme to one person is “fine” or normal to another. Suspension character is the same, and the location of each truck test may have also played a role — our intrepid editor Damon Bell drove the Silverado EV on Detroit’s craggy streets while I took the Sierra on damp, smooth tarmac twisting through California’s greater Bay Area.
We are both in agreement regarding the handling of these uber-trucks. The GMC is far, far more capable on a backroad than it needs to be, carrying itself more like a large crossover than a nearly 9,000-pound behemoth. That’s right: It weighs well more than 4 tons. It might sound cliche, but it doesn’t necessarily feel or move like it, though it certainly doesn’t feel nearly as light as a standard gas-powered full-size truck.
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All Power, All Ways
With 760 horsepower and 785 pounds-feet of torque, the Sierra EV Denali doesn’t loaf around like one, either. GMC claims the dual-motor Denali cracks off 0-60 mph in less than 4.5 seconds, quickly imparting enough momentum to treat concrete retaining walls like paper mache. But keep your foot out of it! This is an electric vehicle, remember? Do you want to zap that battery dry?
Or maybe don’t. The Sierra’s Max Range battery is good for a whopping 460 miles of range when brimmed, while a lower-spec Extended Range configuration cuts range to a still-impressive 390 miles. The Sierra EV can DC fast-charge at up to 350 kilowatts for a quicker public-charging experience (provided you can find one that delivers that level of power).
On the subject of charging, the Sierra EV’s (and Silverado EV’s, by extension) steering-wheel-mounted regen-on-demand paddle is fantastic. GM’s had a regenerative-braking paddle for a while now, but it’s long been a binary on-off toggle that was more fun to try than it was useful. It now offers varying levels of resistance depending on your hand’s input. Talk about a “hand brake.” This is a lovely accoutrement to the truck’s one-pedal drive mode.
A Real Truck?
It drives smooth, accelerates like a boulder off a cliff, lavishes you in leather and has enough digital real estate to service a baseball stadium’s jumbotron needs. We’ll have to get one for additional testing to see how it is at truck-specific things, but at first brush, the 2025 GMC Sierra EV Denali follows the same two-track trail as its gas cousins: more than a Chevy, less than a Cadillac, making it just right — if you can stand the mammoth $100,000 buy-in.
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