400 Mile Chevrolet Silverado Electric to be built at Factory Zero
By Edward A Sanchez – April 7, 2021
Just a day after the unveiling of the Hummer EV SUV, General Motors has announced another product coming out of its “Factory Zero” plant in Hamtramck, Mich., a plant that the company has dedicated exclusively to the production of battery electric vehicles going forward. Therein, a battery-electric version of the Chevrolet Silverado will be joining its upscale lifestyle counterpart at the plant. GM is aiming to give the EV Silverado an EPA range of 400-plus miles.
Although initial speculation was that the “SilvErado” would not be going into production until 2025 as a 2026 model, more recent reports peg the on-sale date as early as 2023 as a 2024 model, with pilot production starting in late 2022.
How mechanically or technologically similar or different the truck will be than the Hummer is an open question, but it’s believed that the EV variant of the Silverado will be based on GM’s Ultium dedicated EV platform. Our guess is some of the more exotic features of the Hummer, such as four-wheel steering and independent rear suspension may not be offered on the Silverado version, at least not initially.
GM’s Hamtramck plant, known as Factory Zero, once made the Chevy Volt. It will soon produce the Hummer EV and Silverado Electric.
The other issue is price. GM is not being bashful about the asking price for the Hummer EV, with the top versions going for well into the six-figures. We expect the EV Silverado to closely mirror the pricing of the forthcoming F-150 EV, which we are speculating will start in the $50,000-60,000 range.
There’s a very good likelihood some version of the Hummer’s Power Station Generator, possibly with specifications matching that of Ford’s Pro Power Onboard system, will be offered, allowing for power tools, small appliances, and televisions to be powered from the vehicle, as well as vehicle-to-vehicle charging.
While EVs definitely have objective advantages compared to their ICE counterparts in light-duty applications such as passenger cars and crossovers, their current capabilities are taxed by such tasks as payload and towing. As demonstrated by the staff at TFL Car, not so much in acceleration and power delivery, but in power consumption, which in some extreme cases was five times as much as in normal, unloaded driving.
Several companies, such as German RV and travel trailer company Dethleffs, as well as American premium travel trailer brand Airstream (now owned by Thor Industries), have motorized travel trailers with powered wheels designed to offset the powertrain load of the towing vehicle, optimizing range. Although most discussion so far has been in the realm of travel trailers, the possibility of a vocational-oriented powered trailer with high-voltage outputs for heavier equipment and tools, as well as a “cooling station” for workers seeking a respite from labor could have some merit.
But back to the subject at hand. With the introduction of the F-150 Electric and now Silverado EV, the prospect of electric pickups is becoming more real by the day, and not just six-figure luxury models, but real working-class, blue collar trucks (If you can call $60,000-plus “blue collar” anymore.)
It will be a while before the power density of battery packs and the national infrastructure are up to the task of EV trucks completely replacing ICE models, but real-world trials that are already underway, feedback, and improvement will undoubtedly bring that goal closer to reality.
(Images courtesy GM)
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