2025 CADILLAC ESCALADE IQ BOASTS LONGEST RANGE OF ANY EV WE'VE TESTED
Gobsmacked. Not a word I get to use much in my reviews of automobiles, it is the state, according to the Oxford English Dictionary , of being “utterly astonished.” Its synonyms, per Dictionary.com , are “astounded” and “dumbfounded.” I’m not sure if either quite captures the levels of astonishment I’m looking for, so, being an engineer, let’s go with something like “impressive-squared,” with an extra “unexpected-to-the-nth-degree” added in because, well, I really was that gobsmacked.
All this utter astonishment is because Cadillac’s newest EV, the Escalade iQ , is, despite being a bluff-bodied sport-brute weighing 4,218 kilograms (that’s 9,000-plus pounds) and rolling on ginormous 24-inch “dubs” — again, cue the utter astonishment — the longest-range EV of all time. Or at least the longest-range EV of all time in my experience.
The only bad thing about this surprise is that I’m not quite sure why the iQ is so efficient. Oh, I know how the numbers add up. And that my range calculation has been, as my every math teacher above first grade admonished, checked twice. But that doesn’t change the fact I still don’t understand how such a big brute of an SUV — it’s over a foot longer than the standard Escalade in both overall length and wheelbase — manages to travel so far on a single charge. My expectations were built on extensive tests of other large EVs, including GM’s own Hummer , and nothing in my previous Range Finder testing suggested that the big Escalade would go where no other EV has gone before.
The Number: How far can the Escalade iQ go on a charge?
The 2025 Cadillac Escalade iQ managed to squeak out — cue the loudest of drum rolls, please — a whopping 600 kilometres of range on a single charge. Now, please understand that this is not some grossly-optimistic WLTP rating. Nor is that its EPA-designated range, the iQ being too heavy to require testing by the Environmental Protection Agency.
No, that number was generated by Yours Truly driving at a steady Ontario-Provincial-Police-be-damned we’re-hauling-ass 125 km/h down Ontario’s Highway 407 toll road. It’s as tough a test as anyone performs in search of real-world range, and probably the most realistic one for many Canadian drivers since a) 125 km/h is about the median speed on Ontario freeways; and b) range really only becomes a factor when you’re rolling at those OPP-be-damned we’re-hauling-ass speeds on the open road.
As to why I’m impressed, gobsmacked, and confused simultaneously, that’s because no other electric vehicle has ever come close to those 600 kilometres on a single charge. In fact, nothing else battery-powered has even touched the 500-km mark, for me, before. In testing more than 35 full-sized EVs, my experience says anything over 350 klicks is considered decent; 400-plus puts you in the upper echelons of EVs; and if you want to go for the record, you have to exceed the 414 klicks I squeezed out of BMW’s iXM60 .
Oh, I did eke out close to 500 klicks in Lucid’s Air , but that was in a test conducted at 75 miles per hour — 120 km/h — on California’s 101, which is not nearly as hilly and windswept at the 407. In other words, nothing battery-powered comes even close to equalling the Escalade IQ’s mile-munching abilities.
How big is the Escalade iQ’s battery? (Spoiler: really big)
One of the reasons the iQ did so well in the test is that it’s powered by an incredible 205 kilowatt-hours of battery , pretty much the largest dose of lithium-ion yet crammed into one automobile. A Lucid Air Sapphire — with an estimated 450 to 500 km of autonomy — boast 118 kWh. Most battery-powered sedans and small to mid-sized crossovers boast between 80 and 100 kWh. SUVs and trucks, of course, boast more. Ford’s F-150 Lightning has some 131 usable kilowatt-hours on board; and GM’s own GMC Hummer EV boasts no less than 170 kWh.
So, the Caddy’s outsized range is all down to its over-sized battery, right?
Not quite. Do the efficiency numbers — especially against the Hummer EV , which uses the same battery chemistry and motor design — and the Escalade is not only bigger, it is also, defying its weight, size, and truly oversized rubber, pretty efficient as well.
So, for instance, the Hummer’s range in the very same testing was just 340 kilometres. Do the math and that works out to 50 kWh/100 kilometres. By comparison, the Escalade iQ, using the same Ultium battery chemistry and electric motors — similar at least in design — averaged 34 kWh/100 km . The F-150 Lightning , equally squarish in profile but weighing almost 3,000 lbs less, still needed 40 kWh for every 100 klicks.
In fact, the electric vehicle that most closely emulates the big Caddy’s efficiency is Mercedes-AMG’s EQE SUV , which, I think we can all agree, the Escalade could probably swallow whole without the slightest indigestion. That something so big and so heavy riding on such huge tires — as we found out in our Hyundai Ioniq 6 Range Finder review , big wheels have a dramatic effect on range — is nothing short of, well, utterly astonishing.
It is worth noting, however, that said wheels might affect the Escalade’s range in less friendly weather conditions. Being, again, utterly astonished, I repeated the same OPP-baiting hauling-of-ass test the next day. Unfortunately, it was a little colder (which would have had a slight effect on range) and pouring cats and dogs. Range was reduced, and, as far as I can determine, the main reason for that would have been the extra drag on those huge LT275/50 R24 Michelin Primacy LTXs through the standing water on the road.
And indeed, when I eventually found a dry patch, the iQ’s efficiency did increase somewhat, indicating the adverse conditions were demanding more from the battery. All that said, even in these poor conditions, the iQ would have been good for about 510 kilometres at a go, which is still better than anything else I’ve tested. Amazing!
How quickly does the 2025 Cadillac Escalade iQ charge?
General Motors’ Ultium batteries run on the latest-tech 800V architecture and so, according to Cadillac, can charge at 350 kilowatts , the fastest charging speed currently available in Canada. That said, EVKX.net says it can only hold that 350 kW peak from 2% to 34% state of charge (SoC), roughly one-third of its charging cycle. By 70% SoC, it’s sucking up just 100 kW, a fairly precipitous drop.
That said, charging from empty to 35% SoC takes just 14-and-a-half minutes, and adds 75 kilwatt-hours of go-juice. Add it all up and, were you brave enough to hold off recharging until the battery is almost depleted — not recommended, but some people like to live dangerously — you could travel 600 kilometres and then recoup some 220 kilometres of real-world range in just 15 minutes. By EV standards, that’s positively amazing. On the other hand, if you were looking to regain all 600 kilometres of range, it would take you two hours and twenty minutes, even using 350-kW charging.
What’s the Escalade like to drive?
In normal mode, the two-motor Escalade boasts 680 horsepower . That’s 55 more horses than the standard two-motor Hummer, but noticeably less than the monstrous 830 hp of the EV3X version of the GMC. In real terms, the super-Hummer can scoot to 100 kilometres an hour from zero in about 3.5 seconds, while the Caddy takes closer to 5.0 seconds.
In fact, the iQ, in a marked distinction from other EVs, doesn’t feel substantially faster than the top-of-the-line gas version, the 682-hp supercharged Escalade-V . That’s no doubt the result of having to carry around a battery that weighs about the same as a Honda Civic. GM might have found a way to cram more lithium-ions into a single battery; it hasn’t figured out how to make them lighter.
As one might expect — and as loyal Escalade owners seem to prefer — the iQ drives large. You don’t so much “toss” something this big into a corner as you “guide” it. Even the nifty rear-wheel steering system can’t disguise that this thing weighs some 9,280 pounds.
That said, body roll is surprisingly well-contained (a fact made all the more surprising by the incredibly tall tires) but the steering is well and truly numb. I don’t know if there’s less feeling than with a gas version (because it’s been a while since I drove one) and even whether the aforementioned loyal Escalade owners give a hoot, but the connection between wheel and tire feels very remote indeed.
The ride, on the other hand, does not suffer much for the huge — that should be read “heavy” — tire-wheel combination, mainly because they are overwhelmed by the weight of that huge battery. Either way, the iQ’s ride and handling will not be alien to anyone who’s owned a gas-fuelled Escalade .
That said, there are girth-related limitations. The rearview mirror-camera doesn’t have a chance to capture everything behind you, and the darned thing is so long that, even if it did, there’d still be a blind spot. Cadillac’s solution are side-view cameras that, when you actuate the turn signal, generate an image of whatever is to the side of the beast. It is a reassuring addition, though it would be even better if the sideview was displayed on the instrument panel right in front of the driver, rather than down and to the right on the infotainment screen. Perhaps a piffling plaint, but it’d be an improvement nonetheless.
And, no surprise, parking this behemoth would be impossible if both the front and rear fascias weren’t fully camera’d up. Surprisingly, it’s the front camera that proves more useful. The iQ is so very tall and its hoodline so very square that, as you get close to another parked vehicle, you can’t see anything below its beltline. If the offending vehicle happens to have a sloping roofline, you’d have no idea where its bumper might be, were it not for the (thankfully) hyper-accurate front lens. Manoeuvring in an underground parking lot would be impossible without it.
What’s the 2025 Escalade iQ like inside?
As one might surmise from the above, I spent most of my time in the iQ driving and calculating, so my observations of the big Caddy’s interior will not be as plentiful as usual. That said, there’s little question that, save for the Bentley-priced Celestiq , the iQ is the best-appointed Cadillac yet. Even haters are impressed when you first open the door (which, unsurprisingly, has power-assisted open and closing functions).
Pride of place — at least once you get past the acres of leather, a beautiful tan in my tester’s case — is the huge instrument panel and infotainment screen. Everything about the Escalade iQ is huge, so its 55 inches of pixels seems right on point. It most certainly makes for an easy-to-read map when you bring up the navigation display on the panel: if you miss a turn in an Escalade iQ, you might think about turning in your driver’s license.
The infotainment portion of the Cadillac’s digital platform, meanwhile, is chock-a-block with information. I especially liked the energy-use numbers, which included a breakdown of where you’re using energy — most interestingly, it was between driving the car or heating the interior — as well a measure of energy usage, though this last was in kilometres per kilowatt-hour, which is a direct translation of the American denotation, miles per kWh, rather than showing our Canada kWh/100 km. There might be a conversion menu somewhere in there, but I couldn’t find it.
But while the Caddy’s screen is big on info, it’s not so great on the entertainment side of the equation. For one thing, the screen, or at least its icons, are as dull as dishwater. Complain all you like about the shallowness of that statement, but I’ll take the bright, colourful, and better organized system in the new Lincoln Navigator every time. That said, the subscreen located in the centre console — and its mini-me in the rear seats — is well organized and easily futzed with. Said second row of seats is plenty roomy as well — anyone limo’ing Shaquille O’Neal needs one of these — but the third row is strictly for kids, and truly strikes me as brochure braggadocio.
Other tech-y things worth noting are the semi-excellent semi-autonomous Super Cruise system; integrated trailer brake controller; a most excellent seat-massage function; and, if you pony up for the top-of-the-line option package, a truly boisterous AKG sound system. Mind you, ponying up will cost you, my fully loaded tester hitting the cash register at CDN$195,404 without destination . Big batteries weigh heavy not only on roads, but wallets as well.
Final thoughts
As for nits to pick: I hope it isn’t a return to the quality control of GM’s past, but a piece of rear seat trim fell off the first time I opened the rear door. More problematic was the keyless entry system. The iQ, like a few EVs trying to be avante garde , doesn’t have a start-stop button; opening the door with the key fob on you obviates the need for that. The corollary, however, is that you don’t have to shut off the “engine” when you get out.
The problem is that, if you’ve unwittingly left some function running — such as the windshield wipers — the Caddy will not shut off automatically. And since the head- and taillights delay their turning off even when everything is shut down, it’s easy to leave the electrified Escalade “running.” Most cars with a start-stop button, on the other hand, completely shut down proceedings whether the rear window’s wipers are working or not. I am, again, assuming that there’s some way to override this function, but I thought I was testing a sport-utility vehicle, not a supercomputer.
Nit-picks aside — and that last one truly flustered me — the Escalade iQ is quite the accomplishment. Complain all you like about the price, size, or ostentation, but this is the first electric vehicle that can make it from Toronto to Montreal in the fast lane — have you ever noticed how many supposedly-rapid Teslas clog the slow lane of major thoroughfares? — with range to spare. All of which makes it the first EV I would voluntarily drive to my significant other’s home north of Montreal which, if you know how poorly I suffer range anxiety or loathe ginormous SUVs, is one more reason I am utterly astonished.
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2025-04-14T16:11:34Z