2024 Chevy Silverado EV RST arrives for civilians

The 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV full-size electric pickup truck was first delivered in Work Truck specification to fleet buyers nearly a year ago; but only now can civilians take one home.

The first retail version to arrive is the top-of-the-line 2024 Chevy Silverado EV RST First Edition. We had a chance to spend several hours driving through the largely flat precincts around Detroit, putting almost 100 miles on a black example that stickered just south of $100,000.

Chevrolet reps declined to discuss the specifications of the trims that will be lower in the lineup than the RST. The RST adds numerous features not offered on the basic Work Truck, including an air suspension that raises or lowers the truck a couple inches, rear-wheel steering, a full-length glass cabin roof, 24-inch alloy wheels, optional Super Cruise hands-free cruise control, and multiple drive modes. 

Silverado EV range, efficiency: Average

A major selling point of the Silverado EV lineup is an EPA-rated combined range of up to 450 miles from its roughly 205-kwh capacity (the RST First Edition is estimated at 440 miles). That’s more than any other electric truck on the market, and it should reassure shoppers who can afford one that they won’t run out of range unexpectedly. 

Our drive route mixed rural Michigan roads and fast Interstate traffic up to 80 mph. Over 100 miles of mixed traffic, we saw efficiencies of 2.0 to 2.2 miles per kilowatt-hour. That’s roughly the same as EV kind of cars got in a week-long test for a Ford F-150 Lightning. It suggests that the Silverado EV, with longer rated range and weighing more than four tons, may be slightly more efficient than its cross-town rival.

Bidirectional charging for home backup duty is on the way as well.

Chevy quotes the payload at 1,500 pounds. Rated towing capability of the Silverado EV we tested is 10,000 pounds, and Chevy provided both an EV powerboat on a trailer and an enclosed car trailer for test towing. 

No figures on the efficiency hit from towing were given, but the onboard navigation from Google takes into account any towing and adjusts range and charging stops accordingly. Super Cruise also works with towing, 

Chevy Avalanche redux, made electric

The first electric Silverado pickup truck shares little beyond a name with its gasoline- and diesel-powered namesakes. It’s lower and sleeker than those ICE models and a clean-sheet-of-paper design, if you don’t count the level of sharing with the GMC Hummer EV, upcoming Cadillac Escalade IQ, and other models. The front end is scaled down, with slim LED headlights and a blanking panel that signals “grille,” a four-door cabin, and a pickup bed integrated into the cab body.

The Silverado EV, in fact, is the electric reincarnation of the 2002-2013 Chevrolet Avalanche, an early four-door sport truck with that same integrated pickup bed. Even the sail panels connecting the roof to the bed sides are similar—as is the midgate that opens up and folds down to extend the bed floor and allow cargo to be carried behind the front seats right up to the tailgate. (Chevy execs, however, consistently give the side eye to any suggestions their new electric truck could have been named “EValanche”…oh well.)

The drawback of the neo-Avalanche design is that Silverado EV Work Trucks can’t use the same specialized “upfit” accessories—tool chests, industry-specific bed caps, etc.—that the gas versions do. That distinguishes the Silverado EV from the Ford F-150 Lightning, for which it’s a selling point. 

Inside, the cabin mixes soft-touch materials where you’re likely to feel them with fine-dot-patterned hard plastic on dash surfaces and other expanses. The top-end models we drove had contrast stitching and seat upholstery that indicated they were the “First Edition” versions.

Silverado EV performance: Fast, heavy

On the road, the Silverado EV’s performance is adequate to keep up with traffic in its normal drive mode. Flooring the accelerator provides acceleration that will let this large and heavy truck slip into gaps, overtake at will, and generally move through traffic as fast as you want it to.

On the 24-inch wheels of the RST First Edition version, it corners well, with the air suspension keeping it flat. That and a low battery pack under the cabin floor help ensure it leans less on any given corner than a similar full-size pickup with a combustion engine. But drivers who pay attention will be aware there’s a great deal of weight being restrained by those 24-inch tires. The rear-wheel steering makes the truck feel much more agile than expected, with a 42-foot turning circle that all but allows a U-turn on a two-lane road with wide shoulders. 

Chevrolet refused to quote power or torque ratings for normal use. The sole stats provided were up to 754 horsepower and 785 pound-feet of torque when the driver deliberately calls up Wide Open Watts (WOW) mode. It’s analogous to the “Watts To Freedom” (WTF) mode on the GMC Hummer EV with which the electric Silverado shares much of its underpinnings. 

We tested WOW mode on a couple of standing-start acceleration runs, and the quoted 0-to-60-mph acceleration time of 4.5 seconds seems entirely reasonable. Equally impressive was its full-force emergency stop; the anti-lock brakes brought the 8,500-pound truck to a full stop in a slightly shorter distance than we expected. We found the Silverado EV RST First Edition model smooth and quiet on most road surfaces, though like most EVs, road and wind noise are magnified by the absence of powertrain noise or vibrations.

Silverado EV is smooth, quiet, capacious

Using the fixed running boards to climb up into the cabin, our first impressions included the wide console between the seats—now required for full-size pickups—and the large horizontal instrument cluster and central touchscreen. Front seats are comfortable and widely adjustable, and large door mirrors provide a wide field of rear vision. The rearview mirror includes conventional and video rear views, and the head-rest of the rear center seat folds down to open up that rear view for the mirror view.

The rear cabin floor is flat, making this one of few vehicles where three U.S.-sized adults can comfortably occupy the rear seat. Outward vision is good to the rear and rear sides, though elevating the driver’s seat as high as it will go is the best way to see over the relatively high, bluff hood. Build quality on our RST First Edition test truck appeared excellent.

A front trunk offers 10.7 cubic feet of lockable storage. A static display compared the cargo length (up to 10 feet 10 inches) offered in the bed of the Silverado EV (with midgate open and Multi-Flex tailgate down, load restraint up) versus its electric-pickup competitors: Tesla Cybertruck, Ford F-150 Lightning, and Rivian R1T. No surprise, the Chevy won. 

GM and Google take control of Silverado EV dash

Like Chevrolet’s last few new electric vehicles, including the Chevy Blazer EV and Chevy Equinox EV, the Silverado EV foregoes the expected Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring. 

GM staff pointed out another prominent EV maker—without ever saying the word Tesla—has never offered those features in its vehicles.

As it is, Google Assistant provides Google Maps navigation that integrates with the truck’s battery state of charge, routing it via fast-charging stations where destinations exceed its substantial range, and telling drivers how long to stay there and what battery charge will remain at their next stop. In other words, just as Tesla has done for 10+ years.

Buyers will need to check carefully whether their favorite apps have been approved by Google and GM for download through the vehicle’s Play Store. The one other routing app we saw was Waze, which isn’t integrated with the battery. For EV charging locations, Plugshare (ditto) was included—but not A Better Routeplanner or Chargeway.

Users must sign into those in-dash apps through the vehicle to use them. GM reps were notably unable to say who owns the data on drivers’ app usage, routing, destinations, song choices, and all the rest. GM has said it expects to earn significant revenue from digital services provided by the car, but the navigation in the Silverado EV will be free for 8 years—perhaps more. GM reps were unable to say whether free access would last beyond that point, or what it might cost once the free trial ends.

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Chevrolet provided airfare, lodging, and meals to enable EV kind of cars to bring you this first-person drive report.