Chevy upgrades Silverado EV electric pickup to 450 miles of range

GM announced that the Chevrolet Silverado EV WT electric pickup will have 450 miles of range on a single charge – significantly higher than expected.

It is still planned for this spring.

While GM is a bit late on its rival Ford in the pickup market with an electric option, it might be worth the wait.

When the automaker first announced the Silverado EV last year, GM said that it estimated the top range to be about 400 miles for Silverado EV Work Truck (WT), which is going to be the first version available and for fleets.

Today, GM updated the Silverado EV Work Truck’s range with an EPA-estimated range of 450 miles:

Chevrolet has some electrifyingly good news to share today! The Silverado EV Work Truck’s EPA-estimated range is in: 450 miles on a full charge. With this official estimate, the Silverado EV WT is expected to offer over 100 miles more than its closest on-sale competitor.

It’s indeed much more than the Ford Lightning’s 320 miles of range with an Extended Battery pack and 328 miles for the Rivian R1T with the highest range configuration.

GM commented on the higher than expected range:

Our engineering team long targeted at least 400 miles of range, but they were able to go above and beyond to achieve this increase. Over the past several months, extensive development and testing unlocked the increased 450-mile range. This figure, paired with the ability to charge at 350 kW, makes the Silverado EV WT the choice electric pickup to serve fleet buyers’ needs. After all, this truck wears a Silverado badge – it’s made for tough jobs.

The automaker also added that while the 450-mile version will be the first available, the Silverado EV WT will also have a smaller battery pack option with a “GM-estimated 350 miles of range on a full charge” that will come “soon after launch.”

In the release about the range increase, GM claims to still be “on track to launch in the spring of 2023.”

The first edition is expected to feature 510 horsepower, 615 lb-ft of torque, 1,200 lb. of payload capacity, and 8,000 lb. of towing capacity. That towing capacity is a bit limited, but GM says that a Max Towing Package will upgrade the capacity to up to 20,000 lb. in 2025.

Electrek’s Take

450 miles of EPA-rated range on a single charge is extremely impressive for an electric pickup truck.

It puts GM in the lead on that front in the rapidly growing electric pickup market.

It will be interesting to see how it translates into towing range, which has been an issue for the existing pickup trucks limited to ~300 miles of range without towing. You can easily halve that with any kind of significant weight being towed.

Even by halving the range of the Silverado EV, at 450 miles, you still get a decent range of 225 miles.

It’s starting to feel like the Silverado EV is going to shake up the electric pickup space.