A massive 200 kWh battery pack delivers up to 450 miles of range. Two electric motors provide up to 750 horsepower and AWD. And a 12 cubic foot frunk will win all arguments at the bar.
As Cadillac’s fast-moving transition to selling only EV products continues, we just got a big one: The brands first ever, full-size SUV EV, the Cadillac Escalade IQ. Coming in late 2024 for the 2025 model year, you essentially get a luxury GMC Hummer EV. Afterall, it uses much the same technology: Ultium battery pack, four-wheel steering, and mega power figures.
But the Escalade stands out in several areas. To start, engineers and designers worked together to create a sleek looking body that also reduces co-efficient of drag by 15 percent, which gives Cadillac the confidence to estimate 450 miles of range from one charge. Impressive! To be fair, that pack is a massive 200 kWh.
Good news, it’s an 800-volt system and will accept the fastest DC charging currently available. Cadillac says you get an additional 100 miles of range for every 10 minutes plugged into a a DC fast charger. While your typical 240 Volt system adds 14.8 miles of range per hour, simple math states a full depleted battery would need close to 30 hours to fully recharge, for what it’s worth.
And that battery pack powers some good stuff. Two electric motors, one on each axle, sends 615 horsepower to the wheels in normal mode and 750 horsepower in a selectable mode Cadillac calls Velocity Max. Torque outputs follow a similar path, 615 lb.-ft (normal) 785 lb.-ft (velocity max). Those outputs will accelerate the Escalade IQ to 60 mph in under five seconds. Swift! Oh, and Cadillac says it will tow up to 8000 lbs. too.
not your traditional chassis
Carrying all of this is not the body-on-frame chassis of Cadillac’s non-IQ Escalade, rather a platform named Ultium, yes same name as the battery tech, which is incorporated into the structure, so it’s fitting in that way (get it, fitting!?!). This modular platform uses a four-wheel-independent suspension with double-wishbone geometry on both axles.
This allows for four-wheel steering, which Cadillac says reduces the Escalade’s turning diameter by six and a half feet, to under 40, nice for such a big thing. The Escalade IQ also uses Magnaride 4.0 adaptive shock absorbers and air springs. Called Air Ride, the system can lower two inches from its standard ride height and raise itself an inch, depending on the driver’s needs and/or desired look.
Cadillac bolted up 24-inch wheels to cap off the styling. Those wheels particularly make the Escalade IQ look more like a larger Lyric than an EV Escalade. But, stretching over 224 inches from bumper to bumper and standing more six feet tall, this is definitely Escalade sized.
More and bigger Screens
Inside, the interior is dominated by a 55-inch long curved display that runs across the dashboard stretching from left to right A-pillar. It includes both a fully digital instrument cluster and center console touchscreen. And it features all the gadgets you’d expect as well as a healthy chunk of Google systems: Maps, Play, and Assistant to name three.
And that’s far from the only screen, beneath the curved screen lies a smaller one just above the command center. And an optional executive package includes 12.6-inch screens for each second-row passenger, which is addition to a central second row screen, two wireless smartphone chargers, massaging seats, and USB ports among other things. The third row is power folding to make it press-of-a-button easy to choose between more people or more space for stuff.
Speaking off stuff. Cadillac says its frunk (which they call an eTrunk) offers 12 cubic feet of space and will swallow two golf bags. That is one cubic foot smaller thank the standard trunk of the 2024 Ford Mustang, for a bit of context.
The roof itself is a big, fixed piece of glass, which spans the ceiling of the first and second rows. And, of course, wealthy audiophiles can tick an option box for a 40-speaker sound system. The standard system has 19-speakers and—I imagine—will playback my news podcasts just fine.
Want one? Be ready to pay at least $130,000 for it. That number jumps to $175,000 if you select a few options. That’s a big number. In fact, it’s $47,310 bigger than the base price of a standard Escalade. But it’s also enveloped in cool technology, luxury appointments, and next generation styling. 450-miles from a charge should ease quite a lot of range anxiety too. Pretty exciting.
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