Range is the most crucial weapon in the electrified pickup wars, and the longest-range Chevrolet Silverado EV has reportedly smashed its distance estimates out of the park. As incoming GM North America president Rory Harvey told Automotive News, “We previously announced that it was going to be a 400-mile target, so the team did just an exceptional job in terms of being able to extend that up to 450 miles.” While that’s not as far as the 500 miles the Ram 1500 REV touts on its 229 kWh battery pack, it’s still good enough to run with the leaders of the electric pickup truck pack.
According to the report, the first long-range Silverado EV will be a work truck that stickers for $79,800 including freight, which is expensive compared to entry-level competitors but doesn’t seem like a terrible deal for companies that need the range. While groundskeeping duties probably won’t require 450 miles of range, a line of work like rural utility services might. Automotive News also reports that a Silverado work truck with 350 miles of estimated range and a starting price of $74,800 “will follow,” but even the 450-mile version doesn’t seem horrendously-expensive when you see what’s on the market right now.
For context, the fleet-spec Ford F-150 Lightning Pro is sold-out for 2023 and the current cheapest XLT model with the extended-range battery offers 320 miles of range for $81,269 due to current package bundling. What’s more, Ford’s website claims that F-150 Lightning XLT orders placed today won’t result in actual trucks turning up at dealerships until October or November, months after the Silverado EV work truck’s alleged arrival this Spring. As for the Ram 1500 REV, it’s not actually launching until the fourth quarter of this year, which leaves the field wide-open for Chevrolet to play ball.
Such close delivery timing made me wonder: If I pop into Chevrolet’s publicly-visible online fleet ordering guide, what will show up? It turns out that information on two fleet-spec Silverado EVs is already in the system – trims marked 3WT and 4WT, both with different battery pack option codes. This seems to line up well with Chevrolet’s talk of the 450-mile version coming available first, with a 350-mile truck up next, and lower trims coming later down the line.
Impressively, the currently-listed Silverado work truck variants seem very well-equipped for fleet-duty trucks. They both come standard with a 360-degree camera system, dual-zone automatic climate control, satellite radio, push-to-start, four USB ports, 7.2 kW of onboard power for plugging in tools and stuff, a bed-mounted 240-volt outlet, a power tilt-and-telescoping steering column, a full litany of advanced driver assistance systems, and 18-inch alloy wheels. Granted, color choices of white or black aren’t the most inspiring and the only upholstery choice is vinyl, but if these are the 350-mile and 450-mile variants, they seem to pack enough toys to justify their price tags.
However, for those willing to wait who are okay with sacrificing range, Chevrolet has another trick up its sleeve: It plans to launch a really basic Silverado EV work truck with a claimed sticker price of $41,595 including freight. When you look at what that sort of money buys you in combustion-powered crew cab half-ton trucks, the Silverado EV’s purported base price seems incredibly inexpensive. Even the most penny-pinching crew cab Silverado 1500 with two-wheel-drive and a four-cylinder engine stickers for $43,895 without any discounts or COVID-related credit options, so saving $2,300 and getting an EV sounds like it could be a good deal. Of course, we’ll have to see how that claimed sticker price translates to the showroom.
(Photo credits: Chevrolet)
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I think the target market here is small, but definitely exists: people pulling a small or medium Airstream trailer or similar. 450 miles of range and a small trailer works out to something like 200-300 miles, which is pretty reasonable for a typical 200-400 mile a day RVing pace and enough to cover longer empty stretches on western interstates with a bit of charge planning.
I think the target market for this product is companies. People who need to use this truck to make money will be able to afford it. People using it as a luxury item to tow an additional luxury item will probably have less expensive options.
At $80,000, I’ll be working . . . to pay for the truck.
So the Hummer EV gets 300 miles with a curb weight of over 9,000 pounds. Will buyers need a CDL to drive this thing?
…no.
They should’ve called it Avalanche, since that’s what it looks like. At least the mid-gate is cool.
Still priced out of most consumers range….so retarded.
Respectfully, please choose a different term to describe poor decisions.
It isn’t a consumer product.
Really makes me wonder if they’ll find a way to release the promised $40k lowest price one. 150 mile range, like 100 of them available, then they stop offering them? Or will they just pretend they never promised that?
Well in 2017 GM announced they’d have 20 ‘Electeified’ models by 2023…
His will be fun, Let’s count them
0 – VOLT -> killed off bc of the Bolt
0 – Bolt -> oh wait that’s being killed off after 4-5 years in production.
0 – Bolt EUV -> also being killed off after 2 years in production
1 -> Hummer EV -> they’ve made what 30 of these total?
1 -> Chevy Traverse EV? Supposed to be coming soon
1 -> Chevy Silverado EV supposed to be coming next spring
1 -> Cadillac Lyric EV supposed to be coming soon
So we’re IN 2023 & I count 3 EV models (out of 20 promised) that GM has made and 2 of them are being killed off
Now it is supposed to be 30 by 2025 (eyeroll)
More like (maybe) 5 GM EV models by 2025
I can not stress enough how sad I find this. GM was once a dominate player in the auto market for decades & 9/10ths of it has all been pissed away.
By 2030 GM will either be…
1. Declare bankruptcy & be Out of business
2. Declare bankruptcy & be bought out
3. In Washington begging to be bailed them out again
I’m not completely sold on full BEV trucks for my own use either (at least not yet). However, every established OEM and startup is making one and considering that pickups are the profit machine that powers GM, it’s important for them to have a strong presence in this space. They really can’t afford to cede any ground here. I also believe they’ll sell well among affluent consumers who very rarely use their trucks for “truck things,” which, let’s be honest, are most light truck buyers these days.
That said, I honestly think GM hit it out of the park with the Silverado/Sierra EV in relation to the competition out there (F150 Lightning, Cybertruck (lol, lmao even), and Rivian). The capability (for an EV truck) is excellent, they both look great and the range is pretty much unmatched if they can deliver on it. Probably not something in the crosshairs of most car buyers on this site, but I honestly believe it’ll be a hit.
It’s too expensive to be a really big hit. There just aren’t that many people who can afford an $80,000 vehicle. Maybe it’ll be a hit among that set, but it’s a small set. I get that new trucks are expensive these days, but $80,000 is a tough pill to swallow.
Isn’t the best selling F150 trim level the Lariat? Considering that’s at over 60k for a 4WD version, I’d say that it’s not that tough for the average buyer.
Funny how you mention the 2023 extended range pro is over 80K out the door but forget the 2022 was only $51 and change. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a40166846/ford-f150-lightning-pro-extended-range-cant-buy/
I guess no $39,900 Work trucks either? How very Elon of you Mary.
https://www.chevrolet.com/electric/silverado-ev/reservation#:~:text=Silverado%20EV%20WT%20and%20RST,to%2020%2C000%20lbs.%20towing%20capability.
Looks like an EValanche. That’s not necessarily a terrible thing, as the second gen Avalanches were reasonably attractive.
As others are saying I’m also not all that keen on fully electric trucks. I think a plug-in hybrid is going to be a much better solution, and I think 3WiperB’s comment summarizes it really well.
What a massive waste of batteries.
For the size of this battery pack for a 450 mile range Silverado, you could build 10 GM Ultralites converted to EV that each have a 150+ mile range, 5 Impala-sized streamlined sedans with 300+ miles range inspired by the GM Precept, or 100 electric single-person commuters based upon velomobiles inspired by the GM Lean Machine each with a 150+ mile range.
We need inexpensive sub-$20k vehicles that average people can afford, that are built to last many decades with minimal issues, and to be completely repairable with basic tools when something does break. An over-complicated, over-sized, $80k lump of landfill fodder designed to be obsolete the moment it drives off the lot isn’t that. This is a massive ecological disaster in the making, and within a decade or two, the bottom 80% of the U.S. population could end up priced out of driving altogether at the same time.
The ideal vehicle in your second paragraph sounds nice but … I don’t think it can exist. You want an EV that is extremely durable and extremely cheap and somehow low tech enough that any idiot can fix it in their garage?
Exactly. Anyone who has converted a car to electric can understand that this is possible. The Triumph GT6 I converted is using 1970s motor technology, 1990s controller technology, a charger from the early 2000s, large format prismatic LiFePO4 batteries from the 2000s that don’t even need a BMS, in a 1960s chassis. All of the subsystems that drive the vehicle are isolated from each other and can be swapped with off-the-shelf components. There’s no CANBUS systems, no GPS, no infotainment, no screens, very little to break and if anything does break, it’s repairable with hand tools, a soldering iron, open source software that only requires a laptop or smartphone and an ethernet cable to load, and replacement parts available for the electronics that are all plug and play.
Total build cost including chassis and restoration: $18k
no Heat, no AC, no power brakes, let alone ABS, not power steering. not real performance in the end either, but hey, you got the golf cart going, that is a start.
It does have heat, at least. It also proves the concept. All the rest of that stuff is a small fraction of the cost of building a modern car.
The kind of car I describe could probably be built with a 200 mile range for around $15k in mass production with the bare minimum of heat/AC/ABS/power everything, while having the performance of ICE cars 10x its cost.
But then there’s the rub: there’s no profit maximization in that. I say screw the shareholders, screw the upper management. If the Chinese can ever get such a thing into the U.S., the established automakers are going to have massive problems. Should that come to pass and the entrenched automakers refuse to adapt, there should be NO BAILOUTS.
I do agree with the screw the shareholders idea, and I do think their should be no bailouts this time. I do wish the Tesla motor V8 Swap thing was not 50K before batteries and I do wish the EV west kits were not starting at 20k. I would in fact like to grab that 850 from yesterdays shit box showdown and put a basic kit made for the Karman Ghia or Porsche 914 in it.
It would be a toy and I am not sure the fiat suspension could handle the added weight or forward propulsion, but it would be fun until it wasn’t.
You are from Misery as I recall, please make a 10K kit that can be used instead of say and LS swap (similar power, 200miles range minimum) in pretty much any classic car and I would be a buyer I think.
Your description of EVs and ease of building some mythical $15k / 200 mile range car is total bullshit.
No, it’s not BS. It’s physics.
Alan Cocconi who designed the inverter used in the GM EV1 converted a Honda CRX HF to electric and modified the body to cut wind resistance. It only needed 0.150 kWh/mile, about the same consumption as the GM EV1. The Solectria Sunrise needed about 0.130 kWh/mile. The modern feature-laden Mercedes Vision EQXX only needs 0.160 kWh/mile. These figures are all at 65+ mph cruising speeds.
It all comes down to load reduction. The less mass, the less wind resistance, and the less rolling resistance of the vehicle, the less the car’s power requirements are to maintain a given speed. The less the car’s power requirements to maintain a speed, the more range will be obtained on a given battery pack size at that speed.
To get 200 miles range at 70 mph in a car of decent streamlining, you really don’t need a battery pack bigger than 25-30 kWh. This in turn greatly reduces the mass of the car requiring less power for a given level of performance, which in turn greatly reduces the materials cost of the car. It’s a cascading effect.
Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute understood this and was a proponent of the “hypercar” concept in the 1990s.
BYD is about to start selling the 5 door, BYD Seagull in China with a starting price of $11,400 with nearly 200 mile range (I think it is supposed to start at 190 miles range, even if this is optimistic by a lot, say 150 miles of range to start)…
even with a US mandated 28% import tax on Chinese cars*
Hypothetically, like for like, BYD could sell this in the US market starting at $14,592
https://insideevs.com/news/663595/byd-seagull-ev-priced-11400-usd-gets-10000-orders-first-day/
*Is this 28% tax applied to Polestar? OR Volvo? (Both owned by Chinese Co. Geely)
Yeah well if you can build it in your garage for $18k then I’d think an OEM in mass production could manage to add power brakes and still come out under $20k production costs.
Of course, the problem is that $20k production cost will make for a low price tag of only $59,990.
The parts I used were mostly low-medium volume. Mass production would cut costs tremendously. The components in my conversion(or modern equivalents) could be all bought off the shelf for about $10k, at the current retail costs, without the production volume taken advantage of by the major automakers. If I get my aeromods right, that will give me a 200 mile range.
At the “low price tag of only $59,990” no one would buy such a vehicle, and rightfully so. At $20k, the car company might net a $2k profit margin($5k if they really get their shit together), and that should be just fine. But the car companies aren’t happy with that. They want us spending $60k+ on bloated feature-laden vehicles, financed via loans over 8 years so we can “afford” them, taking a massive margin not on the vehicle, but on INTEREST. The car companies make more money off of finance than they do building cars. This garbage business model is not sustainable and is going to blow up in their faces, and when it does, there should be NO BAILOUTS.
As is said in China, “let it rot”.
No way you’ll meet safety, durability, 200 miles of range in your scrap built concept.
No way.
Of course I won’t. It’s a restoration of an older vehicle.
That doesn’t mean a vehicle meeting modern safety and durability requirements with the same sort of efficiency can’t be built. It could. There is simply no desire among the mainstream manufacturers to do such, because they want to sell bigger cars with more features and more profit margins.
BS
A small EV that has modern car requirements (ac, heat, radio, pw, pb, ps, airbags, wifi, etc…) Can be built & sold at scale for less than $20K.
In fact BYD is about to begin selling a car (called the Seagull) that seats 4-5 people, near 200 miles of range with a starting price of $11,400.
Silly model name aside, even if the 28% import tarrif remains, this car will Still be close to $20,000 sale price if brought to the US.
https://insideevs.com/news/663595/byd-seagull-ev-priced-11400-usd-gets-10000-orders-first-day/
Correction even with a 28% import tax…
Hypothetically, like for like, BYD could sell this in the US market starting at $14,592
But would such a thing comply with FMVSS?
F no.
This is a random interjection, but my engineer senses are tingling.
LiFePo4 cells NEED a balancer. If you object to a $100 BMS, there are also lots of passive balancing circuits out there that work. If there’s enough leakage current, the cells can sometimes self-balance, but that works slower than the typical error accumulation rate from daily use.
LiFePo4 is safer than NMC or LiPo, but they can still puff and release toxic gas if overcharged with no BMS. I like your stories and I’d like to continue reading them, so for our sakes, please at least take a multimeter out there and check your cell voltages once in a while.
An initial bottom balance back in 2013 of my single 208V 100AH series string resulted in not a single cell being off by more than 0.001V, a decade later. If anything, a BMS for my specific battery pack is a liability that risks discharging it too deep and bricking the car if it sits unused for too long. Instead, I can fully disconnect everything by turning the car off and the battery will stay stable with nothing to slowly drain it when it sits.
That said, if I used a bunch of small cells connected in parallel, of course a BMS is needed or they will go out of balance in very short order. But that is not what I did. It’s just a dumb single series string of 100AH cells, with uniform connections all within less than 0.1 mOhm of each other that use Nordlock washers.
Jack Rickard of evtv.me has put tens of thousands of miles on each of his LiFePO4 conversions, all without BMS, all using single series strings of large AH cells, and has had similar results. Years of use resulting in all of the cells staying within 0.001V of each other over thousands of charge/discharge cycles. He had hundreds of videos on his website to sift through, a number of them documenting these findings. Unfortunately, he passed away more than 2 years ago and that fountain of knowledge is no longer available to tap in real time, but the videos are still there and one of his daughters still sells parts out of his shop.
BTW, I’m also an electrical engineer.
LOL who do you think they are, Toyota?
Toyota could show GM everything on how to make a good car, and they’d still learn nothing. NUMMI
I’m probably a broken record, but I actually use my truck to do truck things, like towing a camper to areas of Michigan with really bad EV charging infrastructure, but 80 percent of my miles are commuting 8 miles to and from work. I’m a buyer for a plug-in hybrid truck, and 80 percent of my gas usage will be cut out with a 20-25kwh battery. The engine only needs to be large enough to tow a camper at a steady 70mph with a buffer in the battery for hills and acceleration. Put a mountain mode button in it to generate and keep a larger buffer for mountains like the Volt did. I’ve got a cheaper battery to replace in 10 years when it goes bad, and you can spread the resources of that full electric truck across 6-8 plug-in hybrid trunks instead. You offset 80% of the gas use for 6-8 trucks rather than 100% for 1.
I don’t mind have full EV trucks out there, but how about some choices for PHEV. Hopefully RAM actually makes the PHEV RAM that they are still talking about.
I still prefer a PHEV to a full electric, but it works for us. So many people think 20 miles of electric range is just pointless, but even with just a 20 mile rated range, we’ve only used 5 gallons of gas to go 850 miles since getting our second PHEV about 6 weeks ago. We are only carrying around a 300 pound, 12kwh battery pack. If I can go 2-3 months between fill-ups and only use 40 gallons of gas a year, that’s not pointless at all to me.
EVs have a lot of potential with fleets since they can go “home” every night and charge for the next day of work…but I’m not sure it is almost $80k worth of potential.
A better option. Make hybrid trucks with a larger than average hybrid battery so these fleet trucks that typically spend a long time idling can do it on battery power instead of petrol. Apparently no one wants that?
Hook up a trailer and see if it can do 450 on a -10 January day.
Towing a trailer affects your gas mileage as well.
But it doesn’t take hours to fill up a gas tank, and stations are only ever a few miles away.
Yeah but not as much as it affects electric range, and if I get 10mpg I can just fill up more. And it doesn’t take 4 hours.
My excursion gets BETTER mileage with 8k behind it. Towing anything with a engine that ISNT in the optimal rpm range will hurt mileage, however towing in the sweet spot it’s a gem. Luckily that’s 75-80 mph in this monster.
lol, lmao
Nothing towing 8k needs to be moving more than 60mph.
Here’s something:
Not every vehicle has to do every thing. This truck is bad at pulling a camper, but so is a corvette so why would that be a knock against it?
Most trucks don’t pull campers
Whoopdee do. I am so over these ridiculously expensive EV trucks. Make a decent plug-in already.
*looks at attractive new Taco*
*looks at Toyota’s excellent PHEV technology*
….you all know what to do
This spring? As in the next 30 days?
$79,800? It better come with an AM radio.
These “work” trucks must be for some Silicon Valley or Austin-ites or wherever there is warm weather. I cannot fathom seeing these trucks working brilliantly with -53 F with the wind chill here in Montana.
The new deception in EVs, talking about range and who has the biggest number but ignoring kW efficiency. Lets assume it will have the same battery as the Hummer, efficiency of 2.12 miles per kW, not as bad as the Hummer 1.65, but worse than the Ram 2.18, and much worse than the Lightning 2.67 and Rivian 2.59.
Recharge times are much longer than with gas, and fuel costs are much less, so it’s understandable that range is more important to advertise than efficiency. A 200 mile EV with twice the efficiency of a 400 mile one might be cheaper up front but otherwise doesn’t provide much of a tangible benefit in daily use.
Besides, its not as if the battery sizes are trade secrets.
Most of the public just hears the big number and thinks it the best. If the consumer was more educated on EVs instead of deceptive claims. Uh a 200 mile EV with the double the efficiency of a 400 mile one, yeah is much better considering charging time replenishment is 1/2. Instead of pumping out EVs with giant batteries to quell the range anxiety, charging infrastructure is what needs the focus especially for daily use. How many people need 300, 400, 500 miles of range for daily use… Another deception is advertised charging rates, good luck ever finding a charger in the next few years to do that outrageous 400-800kw. I have a hard time finding anything higher than L2.
The point has been belabored a million times already, so all I’m going to say further is that people don’t (and shouldn’t) buy something that only works for them “most” of the time.
No, I don’t take a 500 mile road trip every day. But I do sometimes. A 200 mile EV is extremely inconvenient in that situation, no matter how efficient it is. That’s doubly true in a truck that may very well be towing (and suffering catastrophic loss of range as a result).
The big thing is how you prioritize your time. For me, the couple longer trips a year would add less time fueling than I would be spending at the pump throughout the year. But that assumes my time is worth the same locally as it is on a limited road trip.
What people need to do, in my opinion, isn’t buy something that works “most” of the time, but be honest about which tradeoffs they’ll make and how they use their vehicle(s). If you have a couple vehicles and one is your local commuter, it makes sense for it to be a fairly short range EV. But if you have a big tow rig and a commuter/road tripper, that’s a different situation. And having one vehicle means you’re looking at things differently yet.
For me, I get plenty of time off, so I can take a little extra time traveling. The time savings of not gassing up on my commute is worthwhile. But a person who needs to make the most of a two-day trip has different needs.
What would be ideal for a lot of people (if unrealistic at this point) is a vehicle with commuter range normally, but the ability to easily install a additional batteries when needed. You add fast fueling via battery swapping and additional range without lugging around a lot of battery you aren’t using most of the time. The extended battery could be a rental and they’d be able to use less lithium per vehicle. But that’d take a lot of work to make something like that (and, ideally, a lot of cooperation to standardize those batteries).
In response to your 4th paragraph, the ideal concept you are describing is a plug-in.
I run a PHEV now for basically that reason (and because I don’t own my home, so I don’t want to spend money improving a home I’m already paying someone else rent on). But if you want a full EV that both allows for road-trips and acknowledges that lugging a bunch of unused battery isn’t super efficient, the ability to add an additional batter would be great. And a little more efficient overall than PHEVs, at least in theory.
Good on you with your PHEV. More people need to think like yourself. Now, back to your comment. If the “extra” batteries were in use as a home backup or something while not in the car, that would make a lot of sense. Battery standardization not just between cars but across the board for bigger capacities would be wonderful, but I’m doubtful it’ll ever happen.
I believe you and I have discussed this very thing before, and I’m in 100% agreement.
I know of no household 100% EV and doubt I will know anyone all EV in the next 5 yrs. No EV will exist in the near future that works for all situations which is why most households will still have an ICE for the next 10+ yrs. No one needs a 500 mile EV. Rent a car for the rare occurrence. If a 2-300 mile truck EV isn’t good enough or rent a uhaul. An $80k EV truck that can do 450 miles is a waste like so many said. I only charge our 150 mile EV about every 7-10 days since my home charger crapped out.
Again you assume your use case is the only one.
“No one needs a 500 mile EV” is ridiculous, and ignores loss of range due to cold temps, towing, and age degradation.
This truck may well be a waste for you. I suggest not buying it then.
For me personally, I’d buy a 1000 mile EV if it was offered. I don’t rent cars, I don’t enjoy wasting time travelling, and I don’t care about efficiency.
You might disagree with that mindset and that’s fine, but I’m not the one out here saying NO ONE NEEDS ANY MORE THAN WHAT I NEED. Buy what you like.
Here! Here! If we really want to make a difference, we should be pushing hybrids and plug-ins that do not require people to change their lifestyles. Instead, all we get is Uber expensive pure EVs that require people to change their lifestyles and will be obsolete within a couple years when the next gen stuff flat-out embarrasses the current crop.
A 1,000 mile range EV is possible today. It would probably look something like the Stella solar EV concept, and require a massive 100 kWh pack to pull off.
A drag coefficient value for a practical ground vehicle with enough ground clearance for bad roads can approach a Cd value of 0.11. If Citroen built such a thing using their famed hydropneumatic suspension, sized it as one would a luxury car, and marketed it as the next DS, they might have a real winner on their hands.
BS.
Aptera already has a working prototype of a vehicle that only needs 0.070 kWh/mile. They’re claiming that a version of this car with a significantly larger battery, plus solar panels lining the vehicle, could exceed 1,000 miles on a charge. Math suggests this is possible.
The point is more that 99.999% of people don’t need a $80k 450 mile truck. Why are they not focused on the 99.999% of the market instead of suckering people into things like this.
I am not assuming my use case is the only one, but I can confidently say its the majority. If you need a 500-1000 mile EV truck, you actually need an ICE truck DUH !
Perhaps they know their market better than you do?
I’d happily buy ICE trucks the rest of my life if the government allowed me to. It doesn’t seem like that’s going to be the case, so for those of us who need to tow (a lot more than 0.001% by the way), we need development of long range vehicles.
You question why they focus on this as if there aren’t multiple EVs of various sizes, form factors, and ranges on the market. It’s not Silverado 1500 or nothing. What precisely is being lost by putting this on sale?
Your 1,000 mile EV would weigh 15k-16k lbs… Minimum
That would not bother me in the slightest.
It would also not need to be fast, stylish, or efficient.
My overriding desire with my vehicles is to have in my driveway at all times a vehicle that is capable of any task I might conceivably need. To drive all day in cold temps without stopping is a use case I’ve been confronted with many times. If I’m soon no longer allowed to buy an ICE, I’ll need an EV capable of that task.
I have multiple friends / aquaintances that are total, only EVs in their garage.
No issues.
On top of all that, vehicles in general are stupid expensive these days so most people need to be able to do everything with 1 car. I get so sick of EV evangelists telling other people what they really need based on what works for their own specific use case.
Small truck guys are often the same (“DURRR 90% of what you can do with your F350 you can do with a Ridgeline!1111!!!).
That’s true, but the other 10% is the reason I bought the F350 to begin with!
I hear that about my excursion, why do you need an SUV that big? My CR-V can do everything it can….then I show them a double car flat trailer with two vintage bread trucks on it and 4 people inside with luggage and car parts…. Yeah…go ahead with your CR-V!
A 200 mile EV with double the efficiency of a 400 mile EV won’t have a charging time of 1/2. It will have a charging time of 1/4. With double the efficiency, and half the range, the battery pack only needs to be 1/4 the size.
The 1998 Solectria Sunrise had a 200 mile range on only 26 kWh. If a 26 kWh pack were to be constructed using modern battery tech, it would charge extremely quickly with modern charging infrastructure, almost like stopping at a gas station and filling up an ICE.
Of course, better charging infrastructure is sorely needed.
…how many Solectras were manufactured and sold?
We’ll wait for the reply. You keep talking about the Solectra garbage.
Just because a major auto maker refused to pick the idea up and sell it, doesn’t mean the idea was garbage. It could have worked, but it was never even tried in the first place.
The proof of concept was demonstrated and documented. It was driven 250 miles in traffic without any special consideration for efficiency on a single charge at up to 65 mph, and was hypermiled in a Tour De Sol range rally getting 373 miles on a charge with special consideration for saving energy. The designer claimed $20,000 in mass production, in 1996. Prices for EV components and batteries have come down significantly since then.
I’m not convinced the auto industry with tens of thousands of engineers and billions of dollars available with today’s technology can’t make something as good as one man running a small businesses on a shoestring budget nearly 30 years ago.
Meanwhile, I can squeak out 5 miles/kw from my Model 3 if the weather is perfect and I accelerate like a normal person.
I can squeeze 125 miles/kWh out of my electric velomobile if I accelerate like a normal person. 30 miles/kWh hooning the shit out of it and doing donuts in intersections and riding it like a total jackass.
If I ever get triple motors in it and 30 kW/AWD on tap in a sub-120 lb vehicle, to where I might run 12s 1/4 mile drag races and play with Hellcats and Corvettes, maybe that economy could drop to 10 miles/kWh. Maybe. Damn would that be fun.
I’m just thinking back to Toyota’s recent leak talking about 1/6/90 rule for 1 ev’s worth of batteries could supply 6 plug-ins or 90 hybrids. With the batteries to get this thing 450 miles probably more like 1/20/300. They need to save those Ultium packs for the Equinoxes and Blazers of the world, not Hummers and Silverados.
Agreed. I want these batteries going towards efficient commuters, not towards moving massive trucks around. The hybrid or plug-in half measures make a lot more sense and would have a lot more impact in a basic crossovers or sedans than a handful of trucks.
$80k and it’s covered in unpainted grey plastic and rolling on steelies. Yikes. I’ll pass, thanks.
Haven’t you heard, unpainted plastic is back in style…. we’ll according to the bean counters.
Leave the steelies out of this. They’ve done nothing wrong.
with the huge ultium battery the question was never going to be if they could get a lot of range out of it…the question is can they actually deliver it?
This kinda gives me anxiety. I did the $100 reservation within 30 seconds of it opening for the second run (not paying 108k for a silverado) of the normal one and I’m gonna be up front in that I haven’t saved much of a down payment yet haha. I’ll probably opt for the trailboss if it’s available so good grief who knows what that’s gonna cost?!
I have a res in as well but I’m pretty sure by the time they release full pricing info what I want the truck to have will be far more than I actually want to spend.
I love the huge storage space where those stupid console shifters normally all. I hope this carries over to their other models.
This spring?
In like 3 weeks from now?
That’s what I was thinking as well. Spring has pretty much already sprung, they’d better get to it!
According to the report, the first long-range Silverado EV will be a work truck that stickers for $79,800 including freight.
This is crazy. If its a traditional barebones work truck spec there’s no way fleets will buy this. They will never recoup that money in fuel savings. Also what’s this say about the consumer outfitted models. This thing is going to be crazy expensive.
“Work truck” seems like a misnomer given the level of standard equipment on these models.
There just isn’t that much more to add to get to an LTZ or High Country spec.
Work trucks have nearly all the bells and whistles these days. Minus sunroof and ventilated seats. It’s not like the W/T trim of the past.
Not really, at least in ICE trucks.
There’s a ton of equipment that’s optional at best or not available at all on the WT trim, and it’s very possible to option a vinyl bench no option truck.
I’m not going to do the math because I’m feeling lazy right now. However, if the truck is normally left “on” during shift, the fuel and maintenance savings may not be outside the lifetime of the truck. I think the company would definitely have to keep the truck for years to truly see savings, but “never” isn’t a safe bet.
I’d venture a guess they’ll still sell a fair amount to fleets. Namely government agencies and highly regulated industries (ex. utilities) in bluer states, and I’d also guess a fair amount to large, publicly traded companies that want to hit their ESG numbers. Smaller business? That’ll remain to be seen. I’d imagine it depends on whether battery prices finally start to fall or if there’s some other kind of technological breakthrough. Add the availability of charging infrastructure to that as well.