Cadillac’s full-size SUV is getting the electric treatment. Earlier Monday the luxury brand announced an all-electric version of its best-selling product, to be called the Escalade IQ. The full reveal will come later this year after Monday’s announcement and sounds like it will emulate the traditional, gas-powered Escalade SUV as closely as possible.
Other than a teaser of the Escalade IQ nameplate, Cadillac didn’t give any visual clues inside or out.
The IQ joins the all-electric Lyriq and the soon-to-arrive ultra-luxury Celestiq, following the IQ nomenclature for Caddy’s EV lineup even with the Escalade name as a prefix. Likely Cadillac will use the same Ultium battery platform that parent company General Motors developed for the Lyriq and GMC Hummer EV and its upcoming EVs for other GM-owned brands, like the Chevrolet Equinox and Blazer EV.
Other big luxury SUVs that have gone electric have generally suffered from poor efficiency thanks to their prodigious weight and giant battery packs, like the Hummer EV (and the future SUV version). Those heavyweights barely return 1.8 miles per kWh of battery. That’s the equivalent of 47 mpg—the Toyota Prius hybrid does better than that!
Other, albeit smaller, SUVs like the Tesla Model Y offer 102 MPGe. Even the electric pickup truck from Rivian makes it to 70 MPGe. The original Escalade gets an EPA-estimated 16 mpg combined on its 6.2 liter V8 engine with two-wheel drive, so it’s all relative.
The 2023 Escalade starts at $79,295, while GM’s Hummer EV starts over $100,000.
