One of the core challenges of EV reporting is that people want to treat EVs as drop-in replacements for gas cars. The products are close enough that it usually works, but EVs and internal-combustion vehicles are fundamentally different technologies, with fundamentally different strengths and weakness. So when automakers market new electric models as drop-in replacements for gas nameplates, I worry that they're setting customers up for disappointments.
This is most true in the truck market, I'd argue, as this new Chevy Silverado EV owner review shows.
American truck buyers are exceedingly loyal, and have extraordinary expectations. One such example: Gas Silverado owners Tyson and Alicia of the YouTube channel "T&A: Live For Today" lived full-time in a 25-foot Airstream camper, towing it around the country for years. They did this well into old age for the truck, turning it in after the odometer hit 380,000 km (236,121 miles).
That's a long, hard life for a truck, especially when you consider the rural, cold-weather places they travel, like Atlantic Canada. And it's not outside the norm for full-size trucks. While we all like to poke at the many truck owners who never tow or haul, the people out there living in a camper, towing freight around the country or venturing deep into the most undeveloped parts of the continent really rely on the capabilities of these trucks.
Making electric replacements is a tall order. Rivian, Tesla, Ford, GMC and Chevy have all tried. None of them have fully succeeded. Sales volumes are a minuscule proportion of overall truck sales. The best-selling truck in the segment just got canceled. It's not going well, in part because none of these products can match gas-truck pricing, and in part because they can't quite meet the needs of the most demanding truck owners.
General Motors has clearly gotten closest. While they are not my favorite electric trucks, the Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV are the only trucks built to plug the biggest gap in EV truck capability: long-distance towing. With up to 493 miles of range and 205 kilowatt hours of batteries on board, the Silverado EV has enough battery to tow up to 12,500 miles hundreds of miles and blazing-fast charging speeds to get you back on the road.
That's clearly enough for most forms of towing. And for the towing tasks they can handle, electric trucks do provide a far better experience. They are quieter, quicker, smoother and feel less burdened by the weight.
"The big difference with the EV is you're not monitoring RPMs, you're not monitoring your transmission temperature," Tyson notes in the video. "You're not noticing all of the gear shifting to keep the torque up. It's just perfect. It tows effortlessly"
But stretch out the distance and things get tougher.
As Tyson explains, the Silverado EV can easily replace the half-ton trucks that are used for occasional weekend duty, but full-time towing and camper living is not an ideal use case. His Silverado EV with the Extended Range battery may be good for up to 410 miles, but like all trucks—both gas and electric—efficiency drops dramatically with a trailer. So in the real world, you need to stop every 200-ish miles. In rural Canada, pulling a trailer, that becomes a huge pain.
Tyson and Alicia explain a variety of issues that will be familiar to anyone who has researched or attempted a similar project. Charging stations in the rural areas where campers tend to roam are few and far between, and few stalls are equipped to accept vehicles with attached trailers. That means Tyson often has to drop the trailer, or park in awkward ways, adding time to the already lengthy stops.
While it's theoretically possible to get back on the road in around 30 minutes due to the Silverado EV's incredible 350-kilowatt charging speeds, many stations—especially those in rural areas—do not support those speeds, pushing real-world times closer to an hour or so. Not only does the dearth of stations mean that Tyson has to stick to much stricter routes these days, but he also notes that in many cases their routes have no alternative options. That means if they get to a charger and it's down, they won't have the range to get anywhere else without dropping the trailer.
While this high-mileage lifestyle requires plenty of planning, it at least unlocks the biggest advantage of electric trucks. Tyson notes that with how much he's saving on fuel, he's on track to make up the price difference between a gas and electric Silverado within two years. After that, it's all savings.
That's why he's still happy with the purchase. It does not offer all of the capabilities of the gas Silverado, but also has its own major advantages.
Which makes me wonder, is the Silverado name helping, or hurting? Considered as a "Silverado" it is relatively expensive, unproven and—to a skeptical, loyal gas truck audience—is perceived as less capable of "real truck" work like off-roading and towing.
Yet considered as its own product, the Silverado EV offers a variety of unique advantages that make it more pleasant for the vast majority of users. It is a better-riding, independently sprung truck design, with a cool folding "mid-gate," the ability to function as an off-grid power bank, a zero-maintenance powertrain, better technology features and a more refined, car-like experience. If you go in with those expectations, you're going to have a great time. But if you're looking for a product that can replace every role the gas Chevy Silverado fills right now, nobody makes that. Not even Chevy.
Contact the author: Mack.Hogan@insideevs.com.
