Automotive

GM coming after Tesla and Ford with 400-mile all-electric Silverado

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General Motors confirms that development of an electric Silverado is underway
General Motors
General Motors confirms that development of an electric Silverado is underway
General Motors
GM's Ultium platform will serve as the basis for next-generation EVs like the Hummer and Silverado
General Motors
GM researchers work to develop Ultium battery tech
General Motors
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An electric Hummer supertruck and SUV are good fun, but the masses aren't going to be flocking to their local GMC dealership to drive away in them. If General Motors really wants to start getting glutes on seats in electric vehicles, it needs something more mainstream. There's nothing more mainstream in its lineup than the Chevy Silverado, the second-best-selling vehicle in the US, and today the company has confirmed that an electric Silverado is in the works.

Hot on the heels of yesterday's GMC Hummer debut, GM president Mark Reuss confirmed that the e-Silverado is on the way. The new truck will be built on the same Ultium platform underpinning the new Hummer family, developed from the ground up as an electric vehicle. It's too early to pin down an actual real-world range, but GM estimates that it will come in around 400 miles (644 km).

The Silverado news comes as GM works hard to rapidly expand its EV portfolio with plans of becoming a US EV leader. It intends to deliver one million electric vehicles by 2025 and certainly won't want to ignore the critical full-size pickup segment, especially as competitors like Ford, Tesla and Rivian launch electric trucks of their own.

"Chevrolet will take everything Chevy’s loyal truck buyers love about Silverado – and more – and put it into an electric pickup that will delight retail and commercial customers alike," Reuss promised in today's announcement.

GM's Ultium platform will serve as the basis for next-generation EVs like the Hummer and Silverado
General Motors

The electric Silverado will join the new GMC Hummer lineup in production at GM's Factory Zero plant in Detroit and Hamtramck. GM doesn't indicate a launch timeframe, but we'll look for the Silverado to follow the Hummer SUV, which is scheduled to enter production in 2023 as a 2024 model. The modular Ultium platform and other new tools and technologies have allowed vehicle development times to be cut down to as little as 26 months, the company says.

GM has committed US$27 billion toward the development of electrics and autonomous vehicles. It plans to launch 30 electric vehicles across its brand portfolio by the end of 2025, with more than two-thirds available in North America.

Source: General Motors

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9 comments
Douglas E Knapp
Yet more vaporware. I am very sick of seeing, "IN 5 YEARS WE WILL HAVE THE NEXT TESLA KILLER!!!". People, by the time this car comes out Teslas will likely be VTOL!
Joseph Glaze
I really hope this doesn't follow the Hummer production plans. Hummer wants to release a $80k, 250 mile range truck in 2024. Those specs and price are outdated for today, by 2024 it will be an absurdity. But lets be clear, GM doesn't actually want to sell many EV's just yet, they just want to make some so they can put them in commercials for their ICE trucks.
*Joe*
Douglas, teslas are always over promised, under delivered, and very late. In 5 years, tesla might start delivering their first cybertrucks, if they're lucky. Though I can believe Musk might be trying to sell VTOL to suckers in 5 years without any plans to ever get there.
dugnology
yawn.
Ryanza
What charging infrastructure is GM rolling out to provide its customers with easy charging facilities across the world?
WB
so ok one thing is clear if you want to build some beefy truck.. u need a lot of expensive batteries..and the hummer is priced where you can get away with that. But try to get 400 miles out of this brick manly man looking thing will take probably 150kwh pack. Good luck on the cost with this. Also they are not exactly the top notch of efficiency.. anyway I'd be amazed if they can pull it off. I hope..but GM has been more about announcements than delivery... Its time for them to shut up and put up and stop cranking out one bizarre thing after another that somehow doesn't compute... lets see how this announcement will age once that thing comes out. 400 miles range.. we'll keep that in mind.
lee54
And when you're towing that 30' Airstream to the mountains for the weekend, how are you going to recharge? This vehicle will be more for virtue-signaling than for doing anything that people actually do with real trucks.
ljaques
Them ain't the proper tires for a pickemup truck, son. And in 5 years, Teslas may be sporting Mr. Fusion packs, not lithium ion battery packs. So, let's hope GM doesn't do the lease/recall/destroy sequence that they pulled with their first electric vehicle, the EV1.
darkcook
This is worthless for most people that use trucks for what they are designed for. Perhaps these days this is only a small portion of the population--I don't know. I tow with my truck. It requires a lot of energy (gas) to move 15K lbs down the road. Electric just isn't practical. Yet. It will get there some day, but that day is not today. And it probably isn't in 5-years.

For all you Tesla haters, every major manufacturer is still chasing them. And will be for a long time. Tesla has a huge competitive technology advantage that so far, the big automakers just can't beat.