Chevrolet Is Releasing Silverado EV RST Soon, The First Legacy Electric Pickup Designed From Scratch To Be An EV

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The 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST is a significant advancement in electric pickups, offering a 450-mile range, 10.2kW onboard power, and innovative features like the Multi-Flex Midgate. It competes with other electric pickups like the Ford F-150 Lightning and the Rivian R1T, aiming to make a significant impact in the electric vehicle market.

GM EV History

I recently wrote about the Equinox EV. In that article, I recounted GM’s mixed past with electric vehicles, which has both positive and negative events. Without repeating all the points, the highlights are:

1. They were a leader in producing the EV1, but the way they took the vehicle back from the lessees gave them a lot of bad publicity.
2. The Chevy Volt was a great step forward in making a mass market plug-in hybrid with a decent all electric range.  Unfortunately, instead of building on its success, it was just abandoned.
3. The Chevy Bolt came out about the same time as the Tesla Model 3, but due to 6 missteps, it never reached its potential as the first widely available electric car in the US available for about $25,000.

But that is the past, let’s talk about Chevy’s new product.

2024 Silverado EV RST

The Chevy Silverado EV is an all-electric pickup truck that is part of the electric vehicle lineup from Chevrolet. It was introduced to compete in the growing electric pickup market against vehicles like the Ford F-150 Lightning and the Rivian R1T. The Silverado EV is built on the Ultium platform, which is the foundation of GM’s EV strategy and is designed to support a wide range of electric vehicles.

The Silverado EV is offered in various models, with the base model starting at $51,895 (but that isn’t available to retail customers yet). The higher-end version, the Silverado EV RST First Edition, is priced at $94,500. The vehicle offers a range of up to 450 miles on a full charge, with a towing capacity of 10,000 pounds that is comparable to combustion trucks. It features a stylish design and comes with camera-assisted towing on all models, with an optional upgrade to a 14-camera towing package for a more comprehensive view. Other notable specs are its impressive 754 horsepower, its ability to be charged at a rate up to 350 kW, and a 0–60 mph time of only 4.5 seconds.

One of the unique features of the Silverado EV is the Multi-Flex Midgate (which reminds everyone of the Chevy Avalanche from 20 years ago). It allows owners to expand the truck bed into the interior for carrying longer items.

The vehicle also supports 10.2kW of off-board power and can provide power to a home in a blackout when properly equipped. Chevy’s large battery (rumored to be over 200 kWh) will make this even more useful.

The Silverado EV is designed with a focus on technology, including features like Super Cruise driver assistance and a large 17-inch diagonal display screen.

The thing that sets it apart for me is the huge battery, giving it 450 miles of range on a full charge. The Tesla Cybertruck will be able to match that when it gets its range extender, but that takes up space in the bed. The Ford F-150 Lightning has nothing to give you more than 320 miles of range, which sounds like plenty until you are towing and the range goes way down to maybe 100 to 200 miles. The Rivian R1T has a range of 410 miles with its similarly priced model. While the Ram 1500, which should be coming out about the same time as the Silverado, has a range of 350 miles, but Ram has announced it will have a larger battery pack available in their 2026 model that give you 500 miles of range.

Ram also announced a model with up to 690 miles of combined range using a V6 engine. For those who claim it would just be used as a gas pickup, it would be foolish to spend all the money for the 92 kWh battery and never use it. It should have enough all-electric range that many people could use it as all-electric for long periods of time.

The Silverado EV is part of a broader push by Chevrolet and General Motors into the electric vehicle market, with a commitment to offering a range of electric cars and trucks to meet various needs and price points.

Conclusion

The Chevy Silverado EV represents a significant step forward in the electric vehicle market, combining the practicality and capability of a pickup truck with the efficiency and environmental benefits of electric power. With its impressive range, powerful performance, and advanced technology features, the Silverado EV is poised to make a significant impact on the automotive industry and the future of electric vehicles. The pickup market segment is highly profitable to US manufacturers, partially because they are protected from foreign competition by tariffs. The electric pickup market isn’t yet profitable, but it likely will be in the future, so it will be bitterly contested by all the competitors I mentioned above, in addition to the possibility of some new entrants like the newly announced BYD Shark.

I will be getting some time over the next few weeks to drive the Chevy Silverado EV RST and speak to Chevrolet executives about the truck. I’ll be asking the executives what their goals are for this truck and their broader plan to electrify their lineup. I’m excited to see it in person, but am skeptical based on GM’s history. Please let me know in the comments what questions you want me to find out answers to. I look forward to learning more about this important product.

Disclosure: I am a shareholder in Tesla [TSLA], BYD [BYDDY], Nio [NIO], XPeng [XPEV], Hertz [HTZ], NextEra Energy [NEP], and several ARK ETFs. But I offer no investment advice of any sort here.