Way back in July of last year, we published a report indicating the next-generation Cadillac Escalade would spawn an electric model variant that would be able to travel up to 400 miles between charges.
Since then, General Motors has debuted both the 2021 Cadillac Escalade and the new skateboard platform and batteries that it will use in its future EVs. The puzzle pieces for the electric Cadillac Escalade are beginning to come together, then, giving us a lot more information on the upcoming new SUV.
As expected, the electric Cadillac Escalade will use GM’s new BT1 electric vehicle platform. The BT1 platform uses similar technology to GM’s BEV3 electric passenger car platform, but it’s designed to underpin large trucks and SUVs only. The BT1 platform has an 800-volt battery pack and 350 kW fast-charging, compared to the BEV3 platform’s 400V system and max charging of 200 kW. This means GM’s large electric trucks and SUVs will be able to charge up relatively quickly despite their massive battery packs.
The BT1 platform will also tap GM’s new Ultium battery technology, which allows lithium-ion batteries to be stacked both vertically and horizontally. This gives the automaker greater flexibility when modifying BT1 for use in different models, meaning there will be less compromises with regard to battery size and packaging when using it across vehicle programs.
The upcoming GMC Hummer EV will use this same BT1 platform and charging system. GM has said the Hummer EV will produce up to 1,000 horsepower in certain configurations, enabling it to accelerate from 0-60 mph in just three seconds flat. It’s not clear of the electric Cadillac Escalade or any of its potential variants will put down this kind of power and performance, but we know GM’s truck platform is capable of doing so.
We also hear the electric Cadillac Escalade will be built at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant in Michigan. The plant is GM’s first dedicated electric vehicle manufacturing facility and will also produce the Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq crossover, among other EVs.
More information on the electric Cadillac Escalade should become available between now and its launch in a few years’ time, so be sure to subscribe to GM Authority for more Cadillac Escalade news, Cadillac news and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
This story was written in collaboration with our sister site, Cadillac Society.
Comments
Range in all the GM trucks will be 400 miles till they add more. They will use similar packages so the numbers should be similar. Suspensions will vary as will the number of motors.
Hopefully the morons assigning names will allow the Cadillac Escalade EV to remain the Escalade instead of some strange name that has no history with the Cadillac brand and will simply add confusion.
This new “Escalade EV” hasn’t even been named “Escalade” as of now…and that’s what scares me.
Given the recent two that they’ve announced, would fully expect it to be adorned with some derivative Stripper name like “Anastasia-lade”…
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Higher voltages are much better to store energy because they only need more insulation which is not much heavier or costlier. They also can supply more instant power. And present manufacturing can produce safer HV systems than what may laypersons believe. Remember that we had color television sets with cathode ray tube (CRT) screens that needed up to 25 KV to operate, yet no user suffered a shock from them. Future batteries can go over 1 KV and hold even more energy.
For now, EV batteries are using lithium-ion cells that are lighter than other metallic cells, and hold the highest voltage (up to 4.2 VDC) per cell, so less are needed in series than the others.