No doubt, these are challenging times in the EV marketplace, with incentives taken away, and infrastructure challenges, new EV sales are down over 25% from last year. That’s not a problem of the vehicles themselves – we’ve been delighted with everything from Hyundai EV’s up to BMW models. Stellar performance, super smooth and quiet, it’s a whole new kind of driving fun.

Probably the last area to get into the fray has been the full-size pickup truck. There are a few the Ford F150 lightning (which was recently discontinued) the Rivian R1T, and the GM twins, Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra.

So, when the nice folks at GMC asked if we’d like to test drive a top-of-the-line Sierra EV Denali, we jumped at the opportunity – full-size EV pickups sound like big, big, fun!

Big, Bold and Handsome

Let’s start by saying this is one good looking truck. Yes, it’s big – too long to fit in our home garage!

We love the design, the Denali is especially luxurious and high-end, and it cuts a wide swath on the streets.  The lines are clean and elegant, with a large squared off grille with illuminated GMC lettering, hockey-stick shaped signature driving lights and projector fogs standing proud, while a big chrome smile adds some bling around the grille.

The profile really brings home the overall size of the truck, but the lines are sleek and modern, with a small greenhouse, and a swept-back C-pillar giving some aero cred. Giving you what you really want in a truck, our Denali enjoyed Assist Steps (you’ll need them, it’s a long way up) and our favorite, massive blacked-out 24-inch, 6-spoke alloys that while huge, are perfectly sized for the Sierra.

The rear is pure truck – and the Sierra has the very cool tailgate that can flip open or tumble out to give you a step up. Tall horizontal taillights and a rugged lower bumper finish out the form. Our tester wore a gorgeous Onyx Black paint job that really tied all the styling elements together, and made our Denali look luxurious and badass at the same time!

Great Indoors

The Denali’s cabin continues the truck-meets-lux vibe of the exterior.

Open the door and the first thing that hits you is the height – it’s a good thing there are side steps to help you get in. Grabbing the steering wheel helps you pull yourself aboard. Once you’re in, you’ll be impressed with the sheer space of the vehicle – it’s huge, and with a massive center console each heated and cooled front seat in perforated leather with accent stitching is a magnificent throne to survey the world.

Denali really functions like a separate luxury brand for GMC, so extra care goes into making this a place where time is well spent. Along with the high-quality leather, the open-pore wood trim that spans the dashboard could easily be from a high-end Swedish furniture store. Elegant, and yet not overdone.

Storage is plentiful with dual bottle holders in each door, dual cupholders in both the front and the rear console, and a cool hide-away feature beneath the wireless phone charger and front cupholders that reveals bonus jumbo storage and added charging points.

A big truck deserves big tech, and the Denali comes through, starting with an 11-inch digital gauge cluster that’s not only handsome, but a touch of the button switches it entirely over to a navi map display. If you’re wondering where the key info goes, the heads-up display keeps you in the loop.

While we’re not always big fans of monster center tablet displays, it suits the grand experience of the Sierra, and the 16.8-touchscreen is well thought out, and serves up multiple levels of information beautifully. It’s also easy to navigate through as well. Speaking of navigation, neither Apple CarPlay nor Android Auto are offered on the Denali, but it features its own built in Google Maps and Google Assistant which handles things nicely – but we wish they’d give us the choice.

That said there’s plenty to love here, including a dedicated (and quite large) central volume knob, and while the climate control system has a dedicated part on the lower portion of the touchscreen, GMC cleverly gives you toggle switches for the main controls, so it’s an easy intuitive way to stay comfy.

That huge exterior also pays off for the rear seats, with a full crew cab, and that means large, easy to open rear doors, loads of legroom, and since it’s an EV with no transmission hump in the middle, the center rear seat is comfy as well. We also enjoyed the full panorama glass roof – it doesn’t open, but it lets in a tremendous amount of light and keeps the Denali feeling bright and airy.

There’s lot more cleverness when it comes to hauling gear. The rear seat bottoms tumble forward, and the seatbacks fold flat forward to give you a good place to carry stuff. But there’s more! An innovative pass-through lets you slide things longer objects from the bed inside.

The bed itself is a good-sized 6-foot bed, with a row of three power inputs on the side, and the tailgate does some trick stuff – fold it down like a regular gate, and there’s a flip-up barrier that gives you a longer useable truck bed. Or with the gate up, you can fold down just the top portion – great for extra-long items like a ladder or a surfboard to stick out or tumble down the gate and creates an easy stair-step to get into the bed – a great idea, especially on a vehicle that sits so tall.

Need more storage space? Well, there’s a handy, power operated “frunk” (front trunk) since there’s no engine up there, and with 11 cubic feet of space it’s nice to have a fully locking, out of sight storage area.

Big Performance Too

We’re impressed with the looks and interior and cargo space – but the performance really wowed us!

Let’s talk power – big power. The Sierra EV range starts at a jaw dropping 645 horsepower, but that’s not enough for the Denali Max Range like our tester. Better sit down for this one – 760 electric horses and 785 lb.-ft of torque – and since it’s an EV, that power comes on instantly.

OK, the acceleration is silly fast, especially for something this big and relatively hefty. 0-60 in about 4 seconds flat. And most people don’t expect something that big to hustle that fast. Fun, Fun, Fun. Equally impressive is the range – while GM estimates the range around 478 miles, our fully-charged tester said 505 miles. OK, your range may vary but let’s just say range anxiety shouldn’t be a problem.

Charging is as speedy as the Denali itself, and GM says with the 350kW DC fast charger, you can add 100 miles of range in about 10 minutes, while a 10-80% charge takes approximately 50 minutes – big range, big batteries!

Sierra EV’s can tow up to 12,300 lbs. – but like most EV’s, towing big numbers seriously impacts range.

Storming performance is just one of the Denali’s repertoires of driving feats. For maneuvering around town, the available 4-wheel steer gives you a surprisingly tight turning radius and you can also get the “Crabwalk” feature where all 4-wheels point in the same direction, helping you traverse off-road trails, maneuver more easily in parking situations, or just impressing your friends!

Equally impressive is GM’s Super Cruise hands-free driver assistance technology, that under particular highway conditions that the navigation has mapped lets you take hands off the wheel and just watch and wonder as the Denali navigates its way around.

We also loved that if you want to change lanes you just hit the turn signal, and the Denali will suss out the situation and then move you over when there’s space. Fantastic. We’ll admit it takes a little while to completely trust the system – but hey, we were skeptical about adaptive cruise with full stop and go at first, too! While fully autonomous driving in all situations seems to be a way away, systems like Super Cruise certainly take some of the stress out of driving – and with the Denali’s impressive range, a long road trip surely seems in order.

We found the handling and braking reassuring, and the Denali is a comfy, quiet performer. While some competitors like the Rivian seem leaning towards a car-or at least SUV –like ride, the Denali still feels like you have a truck beneath you. An incredibly advanced and powerful one, but a truck, nonetheless. We like that. It gives the Denali real personality.

Big Truck Big Price?

Well, that depends on how you equip it, but this is a flagship tech powerhouse. The good news is that while the high-end Denali was originally the only trim for the Sierra EV, GMC has been opening up the line up with different performance, trim and equipment levels to help you get the Sierra EV that suits you.

The Sierra EV lineup starts with the Elevation model at $62,400. With a best-in-class standard 605 horsepower, and available items like Super Cruise and up to 410 miles of range, it’s an attractive blend of size, tech, style and value.

Our tester is the full Denali as we like to say and carried a starting price of $98,600. Options were few with that gorgeous Onyx Black paint ($495) and GM NACS DC Adapter ($275). Add in $2,095 for Destination, and we rang the bell at $101,465.

There are actually a fair amount of high-end EV pickups to consider, and we think the Rivian R1T tri-Motor Max is worth a look. At a little over $110,000 it’s a bit more expensive, but with 850 horsepower it’s also a bit faster. (If that’s not enough the R1T Quad Motor Max Pack has 1,025 horses and 0-60 in the mid 2 second range. If you want a truck to terrorize supercars, here you go!) Some may like the Rivian’s smaller dimensions and softer tuning. How much truck do you want in your truck?

We also like the F150 Lightning EV.  The top-of-the-line Platinum rings in near $94,000 and is about as quick as the Sierra but has a much shorter range – around 300 miles. Ford officially discontinued the Lightning in 2025, but there seem to be plenty of new ones still available.

Bold, Handsome, with awesome performance, range, luxury and technology, the 2026 GMC Sierra Denali EV Denali Max Range is hugely impressive – and makes a huge impression, too!