Cadillac provided flights from Los Angeles to San Fransisco and accommodation so Ars could drive the Escalade IQ. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.
SAN FRANCISCO—Newsflash: the new electric Cadillac Escalade IQ weighs over 9,000 lbs, or a fair amount more than 4,000 kilograms. For context, that figure works out to almost exactly half again as much as the 682 hp (509 kW) Escalade V that comes equipped with a barking-mad 6.2 L supercharged V8. Yet the latest and supposedly greatest from Cadillac needed to weigh so very much to achieve a class-leading range target of 460 miles (740 km), thanks to a 205 kWh battery pack.
The Escalade IQ shares a modular General Motors (formerly Ultium) chassis and battery pack with the gargantuan Hummer EV, and even more hardware with the Silverado and Sierra pickup truck siblings. As opposed to trying to attract rugged work truck and off-roading cred, though, for Cadillac that kind of range figure seemed necessary to appeal to a “no compromise” lifestyle that Escalade buyers might well expect while considering a switch to fully electric power.
And the new IQ certainly puts down plenty of instantaneously available grunt, and despite its mass can punch out a 0–60 time under five seconds with the Velocity Max button pushed, thanks to dual motors rated at 750 hp (560 kW) and 786 lb-ft (1,065 Nm).