General Motors is readying a battery-powered Chevrolet Silverado to challenge the Ford F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T in the full-size electric pickup truck segment.
It makes its debut in early January at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show and is promised to offer more than 400 miles of range, plus a fixed-glass roof and four-wheel steering.
It enters production in early 2023 and lands in showrooms late that year, suggesting it will arrive as a 2024 model. Information on the vehicle's timing was confirmed on Thursday by Doug Parks, executive vice president for global product development, purchasing and supply chain, during Deutsche Bank's AutoTech Conference, according to Automotive News (subscription required).
The electric Silverado is being developed on GM's Ultium modular EV platform found in vehicles like the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq. Like the Silverado powered by an internal-combustion engine, the electric Silverado will also spawn a GMC Sierra counterpart.
GM chief EV officer Travis Hester with Chevrolet electric truck
GM chief EV officer Travis Hester with Chevrolet electric truck
Both electric pickup trucks will be built at GM's Factory Zero plant in Detroit, Michigan, which is already churning out the Hummer EV and will also build the Cruise Origin self-driving shuttle. Though it's yet to be confirmed, an electric Cadillac Escalade may also be built at the plant.
GM has teased an electric Chevy pickup truck several times, even using a mockup as a background prop during a presentation on the company's electrification plans (shown above). However, the design may have evolved since then.
An electric full-size Chevy pickup with a 400-mile range was first mentioned as one of 12 upcoming EVs in GM's 2020 sustainability report. Those 12 vehicles will be the first batch of a planned 30 new all-electric models by 2025.
GM has said it "aspires" to eventually eliminate tailpipes from all of its light-duty vehicles by 2035, which would require making the Silverado 1500 pickup electric, but not the bigger 2500 and 3500 models. These are heavy-duty pickups, which weren't mentioned in the announcement.
