Chevrolet Silverado EV | A good idea at a high price

The move from all-oil to all-electric in the Silverado pickup truck brings a breath of fresh air to a segment that, in recent years, has shown little eagerness to reduce its carbon footprint.

While the F-150 Lightning takes a break – its production is interrupted until January 6 due to demand deemed too low – Chevrolet is charging ahead. The bow-tie brand is adding an offering of fully electrified pickup trucks to its Silverado range.

A few months after its release, the Silverado EV is casting its net wider. New variations are being added to cover a wider scope of the market. Despite this new burst of liveries, the RST still occupies the top of this hierarchy. It is undoubtedly the most desirable, the most sophisticated, but also the most expensive. We are still interested in it, because it presents characteristics which will inevitably become more popular one day. Just like ABS braking, heated seats or oversized infotainment screens.

Beautiful and less pleasant surprises

With its bed cemented to the cabin which gives it, in profile at least, a more slender, more slender appearance, the Silverado EV is strangely reminiscent of the Avalanche pickup truck, which appeared 25 years earlier. Even more so when we discover that Chevrolet’s latest reintroduces the “midgate”. This trick revealed on the Avalanche consists of a removable partition allowing the floor of the bed (it is almost 6 feet or 1800 mm) to be extended into the passenger compartment. But here the memory of the Avalanche ends. The Silverado EV is a completely different pickup truck with impressive towing capacity (the Avalanche wasn’t so impressive at the time), even compared to its gas-powered counterparts.

Welcoming and spacious, the cabin of the Silverado EV is still difficult to see for a vehicle of this price. Nothing to do with the sumptuous presentations of gasoline models offered at similar prices. Plastic, plastic and more plastic.

A little more diversity in the choice of materials and more creativity would have been welcome. Also, Chevrolet could have made more effort to better integrate the wireless charger (by induction) to maximize on-board storage.

And if we can rejoice in the preservation of several so-called “physical” controls, we particularly regret that the headlights turn on or off by tapping the central touch screen. We also do not understand very well that the functionalities ofAndroid Auto andApple CarPlay are truncated in this way. It’s possible to call, of course, but that’s about it.

Anxiety, where are you?

The Silverado EV wasn’t born from a completely blank slate. Its architecture derives quite closely from the Hummer EV, with the notable difference that the van offers, in its RST livery, two and not three electric motors. These are powered by a huge 213.7 kWh (204 kWh) battery which gives it a range of more than 600 km. As part of this test, we managed to reach 674 km by adopting the smoothest driving possible. And without putting too much strain on the 754 horsepower and 785 pound-feet of torque that are impatiently pawing under the right foot. The anxiety linked to the need to calculate your movements to the nearest kilometer does not exist here. And as long as you have access to a fast charging station, the Silverado EV recharges in 56 minutes (from 20% to 80%). Time to grab a bite or do some shopping.

Added to these good performances are lively acceleration and vigorous pick-ups, but which run out of steam quite quickly. These would have been much more if the Silverado EV did not suffer so much from being overweight (3992 kg). And this is sometimes felt, despite the electronic and mechanical devices supposed to attenuate these characteristics. Among these, let us highlight the addition of a four-wheel steering system (see our photos) which not only reduces the turning circle, but also improves the stability of this behemoth on highways. To this, we should add the presence of an air suspension which smooths out road imperfections relatively well.

The steering, multiplied as it should be on a vehicle of this size, proves sufficiently precise to indicate the trajectory of the front axle, but nothing more. As for braking, this Chevrolet allows “one-pedal” driving. This is very effective, however a dimmer would have been appreciated to modulate the system according to one’s tastes and preferences. It’s not too much to ask considering the price at which this van is displayed.