2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ Is Electric Extravagance Writ Large | Car and Driver

This is the Cadillac Escalade iCube. It's the first all-electric Escalade. Let's get the headline figures out of the way. Estimated range of 450 miles, up to 750 horsepower, and a 60 mile an hour acceleration of less than five seconds claimed so far. Let's take a closer look at all the details. How big do you think that wheel is? 22 inches, 23 inches? It's actually a 24-inch wheel, and it's got a 35-inch tire. That gives you a sense of the size of this vehicle. Wheelbase is close to that of an Escalade ESV. The overall length is somewhere in between an Escalade and the long wheelbase current gasoline-powered Escalade. The proportions will look dramatically different, and that's because this platform is totally unrelated to the current Escalade, and that gave the designers a lot of freedom with sculpting the look. As for exterior design and trim, it will change whether you choose between the Luxe and the Sport. This is the Sport version, but let's take a look around back. Cadillac says the usable capacity of the battery is over 200 kilowatt hours. Of course, you can expect this to be a similar technology and setup as what you would find in the Silverado EV and Hummer EV. As for charge times, with a properly working DC fast charger, Cadillac claims you'll get 100 miles in 10 minutes. Of course, most of your charging is going to happen at home. We can see in this cargo space, the third row, all the Escalade IQs will be a third row. But let's take a look at the front row, because that's where a lot of exciting stuff's happening. Big change inside, right? So the driver has a 35-inch display. Passenger has a 25-inch display. The reason they're partitioned here is because this screen's polarized, so the passenger can be watching a video or something while the vehicle's in motion, and the driver can't see it. This display is all Google-based. Apple CarPlay will not be supported, so pour one out for your Apple homies if you have one. I'm one, so I guess pour one out for me, too. You'll also see this center display here, 11 inches, and that will also control HVAC and a couple other features that we'll talk to. There are a lot of things to talk about because this is a big change. Of course, you have no center tunnel because there's no transmission, so you have storage space down here. You have a massive panoramic roof that stretches from right about where the A-pillars end to all the way behind the second row. There will be an accessory shade you can buy to cover that, if you so wish. You can open all four doors inside without actually touching the door. There's a hands-free door open and close. In fact, the driver can configure the vehicle to open the driver door as the driver approaches, and a radar system inside the door, they say, will prevent it from hitting something nearby if you're close enough. Let's take a look at the back seats because there's even more happening there. Quite a lot going on back here as well. This is the optional executive second row. It gets you everything from this center console with storage bins, a display here for controlling HVAC and entertainment features, this storage area here, which even has tray tables to do work or eat off. A lot of stuff here to coddle people in the second row, from heated, ventilated, and massaging seats that will keep you comfortable just as much as the MagneRide dampers and air springs. These displays here also have HDMI inputs down here so you can plug in your Nintendo Switch, Xbox, or what have you, entertain yourself or the kids. If you don't get this feature, it's a more traditional second row. There's no bench seat available, but you can still get these displays if you so wish. Of course, like any self-respecting EV, there's a storage space up front. Cadillac calls it the e-trunk, and there's over 12 cubic feet of storage space here. Of course, the final version when this does go on sale will be lit, and this will be power operated. What else? Well, you've also got four-wheel steering that'll make for some nimble maneuvers at low speed. And also, like Hummer EV's CrabWalk, this has Cadillac Arrival Mode, which will keep the rear wheels in phase with the front and allow you to show off to your friends as you maneuver sideways down the street. The Escalade IQ goes on sale summer 2024 with a starting price around $130,000. $130,000.