Preview: All-New 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV Promises 400-Mile Range
A spiritual successor to the Avalanche, this upcoming truck boasts a handy midgate that expands bed cargo storage into the cab
By Benjamin Preston
The Chevrolet Silverado EV introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week resurrects GM’s midgate—a back-of-cab folding bulkhead to increase the length of the truck’s bed. This clever feature was last seen on the Chevrolet Avalanche, which went out of production after the 2013 model year.
Unlike the long-gone Avalanche, which was based on the Chevrolet Suburban, the Silverado EV won’t be based on GM’s popular conventional trucks. GM’s newest electric truck has a unified bed/cab structure and independent rear suspension, and will ride on the electric-vehicle-specific Ultium platform that underpins the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyric, among other future GM vehicles.
GM says that starting in spring 2023, the Silverado EV will be offered in fleet-oriented Work Truck (WT) trim starting under $40,000, with a $105,000 performance version—the RST—to debut later that year. Mainstream versions will fall somewhere within that wide price range.
General Motors, which has been offering pure-electric Chevrolet Bolt EVs for half a decade now (recently adding an SUV-esque Bolt EUV to its lineup), is among a growing number of automakers that have pledged to increase the percentage of EV models in their lineup in the coming years. For its part, GM has said it aspires to have an all-electric lineup by 2035, with at least 40 percent of its models EVs by 2025. That is an ambitious target, considering GM sold 26 Bolts and Bolt EUVs and one Hummer EV in the fourth quarter of 2021.
What it competes with: Ford F-150 Lightning; GMC Hummer EV Pickup, Rivian R1T
What it looks like: An aerodynamic version of the Chevrolet Avalanche pickup
Powertrain: Optional two-motor electric drive; optional four-wheel drive; 510 hp, 615 lb.-ft. torque for the WT; 664 hp, 780 lb.-ft. for the RST
Price: $39,900-$105,000
On sale: Spring 2023 (WT); Fall 2023 (RST)
CR's Take
GM has been stingy with details thus far, including when more mainstream versions of the Silverado EV will go into production and be available for sale. If it’s as good as it looks at first glance, its handy configurable bed storage and front trunk shown below (where the engine would be on a fossil fuel-powered pickup) will make it a versatile competitor to a number of other electric pickup trucks hovering on the brink of reality.
The front trunk on the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV
Photo: Chevrolet
Outside
Unlike a conventional pickup truck—which has separate body and bed pieces that sit atop a ladder frame—the Silverado EVs chassis is built around the structure of its battery pack, and its bed and body form a seamless structure. The sail panel between the back of the passenger cabin and the top of the bed rail looks a lot like the one on the pickup truck version of the Hummer EV, although it hearkens back to the plastic-clad triangular sail panels, extending from the back of the cab to the top of the bed, that differentiated Avalanche pickups from regular Silverados years ago.
The front end is short, both to maximize the driver’s forward visibility and to increase legroom for the rear seat passenger, according to GM. The Silverado EV will come in only a crew cab configuration.
The bed measures 5-feet, 11-inches in length, but with the midgate open, and the optional configurable tailgate extended, that length increases to 10-feet, 10-inches—a notable competitive advantage.
Photo: Chevrolet
Inside
The interior of the RST features a 17-inch LCD infotainment screen surrounded by trapezoidal styling flourishes and cladding consistent with Chevrolet’s other products, EV or not. The driver gets a configurable 11-inch instrument display and a full-color head-up display on the windshield. WT models get a smaller version of the infotainment screen.
Along with cargo-hauling capacity in the pickup bed, the Silverado EV will feature a front-mounted “frunk” for extra closed storage, although GM has not yet specified its volume. The midgate will fold into the cab, but will not impinge on back-row seating capacity when it’s not in use. No word on interior storage options such as the center console or underseat storage in the back row.
Photo: Chevrolet
What Drives It
GM says there will be two electric motors—one for each axle—on the top-end RST trim. Both models will offer 400 miles of range, although the WT will be equipped with a slightly less powerful motor setup.
The RST will have a drive setting called Wide Open Watts (aka WOW) mode that GM says will facilitate a 0-to-60-mph launch in less than 4.5 seconds. It was also designed with towing in mind, and will be able to haul large trailers up to 10,000 pounds, such as a dual-axle camper, or carry up to 1,300 pounds in its bed. (The Ford Lightning boasts up to a 2,000-pound payload capacity and 10,000-pound tow capacity.)
Like the GMC Hummer EV, the Silverado EV RST will come with four-wheel steering to improve maneuverability, as well as an adaptive air suspension system.
Initially, Chevrolet will offer the WT trim with an 8,000-pound towing capacity and 1,200-pound payload capacity, but GM says a later version of the fleet model can be equipped with a tow package that will bump the towing capacity to 20,000 pounds.
The midgate allows the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV to hold objects up to almost 11 feet long.
Photo: Chevrolet
Safety and Active Features
GM says the Silverado EV will include “a comprehensive suite of standard and available safety technologies,” and that the more expensive RST trim will come with a towing-compatible version of Super Cruise hands-free driver assistance technology.
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