Cadillac's updated its range figures for the 2024 Lyriq RWD and 2024 Lyriq AWD. "Updated" is the term here because the luxury carmaker tested both trims of the 2023 Lyriq, but the Lyriq AWD's first model year for the public is 2024. The 2023 Lyriq RWD is EPA-rated to go 312 miles on a charge, the Lyriq AWD is rated at 307 miles on a charge, both of those figures are produced on 20-inch wheels, the best option for the luxury crossover. The 2024 version hasn't made it to the EPA site yet. The automaker's numbers for the new model year are 314 miles for the 2024 Lyriq RWD and 307 miles for the Lyriq AWD. Those numbers were achieved on the 20-inch wheels.
The RWD and AWD numbers moved around a bit this year. In documents GM submitted to the EPA in February, the automaker estimated ranges for both drivetrains for the 2023 model year on 20-inch wheels — the sole size offered in 2023 — and on the new, optional 22-inch wheels as a "worst-case-scenario." The first figures suggested the RWD on 20s got 312 miles in combined driving (taking the EPA's equation of adding 55% pure city range to 45% pure highway range), the AWD on 20s was estimated at 300 miles. The RWD on 22s was estimated at 287 miles combined, the AWD on 22s, 276 miles.
In certification papers submitted in May concerning the 2024 Lyriq RWD, the figures had dropped to 307 miles on 20-inchers, 274 miles on 22-inchers. More papers submitted in June for the 2024 Lyriq AWD couldn't be parsed in a way that matched earlier numbers.
What we're clear on is that the Lyriq retail site now says the 2024 Lyriq RWD goes 314 miles on a charge on 20-inchers, the Lyriq AWD goes 307 miles. It's not clear what changed on the RWD trim to eke out two more miles, nor what juju Cadillac engineers conjured to get the AWD range so close to the RWD range. The single e-motor in the rear-driver Lyriq makes 340 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque, whereas the two motors in the all-wheel Lyriq produce a combined 500 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque, the more powerful rear unit making the brunt of the grunt. Opting for two motors adds $3,550 to the RWD trim, an eminently fair premium for the extra power and tech to lose barely any travel distance on the smallest wheel.
The potential caveat is that real-world experience will need to verify this. The Society of Automotive Engineers and Car and Driver collaborated on a research paper released in April that asserted "most BEVs tested to date fall short of both their electric consumption and range label values," and that the disparity between claimed and actual EV driving ranges is wider than the same disparity for vehicles powered by internal combustion engines. It's possible the Lyriq is a poster child for the phenomenon. In C/D's 75-mph highway test of the 2023 Lyriq RWD and AWD on 20-inch wheels, the rear-wheel-drive trim covered 270 miles of its 314-mile estimated range, a 14.1% drop. The all-wheel-drive trim in the same test only got 220 miles down the interstate, a 28.4% decline from its estimated 307-mile range.
Note again that there was no 2023 Lyriq AWD available to the public; the production run counted around 2,000 RWD cars thanks to production delays, that tranche claimed almost immediately. The magazine's test doesn't speak to combined driving, either, so it will be left to the public to find out if GM or Car and Driver is closer to the truth.
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