General Motors announced it will build an electric Chevrolet Silverado full-size pickup truck in Detroit. The new Silverado is designed from the ground up to be an electric vehicle, GM President Mark Reuss said at an event at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant that has been renamed Factory Zero because it is being retooled to only build electric vehicles.
The Silverado EV will have a driving range of more than 400 miles on a single charge, Reuss said. There will be versions for both retail and commercial customers, as well as a wide variety of configurations and options for buyers to choose from. Reuss said the model will continue to offer the features truck owners expect, but it will also have innovations the company had never considered. Specifically, ones that only an electric vehicle can offer.
There are no details on timing for the Silverado EV, yet, which means Ford might beat Chevrolet to market with its electric F-150 full-size pickup truck that’s due to arrive next year. Ram is also working on an electric truck. A newcomer to the electric pickup market is Rivian, which will begin production of the R1T pickup in June.
Factory Zero Prepares to Hummer Along
Construction continues at Factory Zero thanks to a $2.2 billion investment to renovate and expand the facility. The first batch of GMC Hummer EV pickups will be Edition 1 special editions that are fully loaded and feature a powertrain with around 1,000 hp. Edition 1 models are all white with black above the beltline. Additionally, the roof panels come off and can be stored in the truck’s front trunk.
GM is spending $27 billion—$7 billion of that this year—to avail itself to offering 30 electric vehicles globally by the end of 2025. In total, GM plans to deliver more than 1 million electric vehicles globally by 2025. In addition to the Hummer family, GMC has at least two smaller electric SUVs coming.
GM CEO Mary Barra has said more than half of GM’s total spending, as well as its product-development team, will be devoted to electric and autonomous vehicles. Ironically, Barra was once the plant manager of the Detroit-Hamtramck plant.
The next wave of new GM vehicles—including the new Silverado—will ride on the new BEV3 platform that uses the Ultium battery management system the automaker developed with LG Energy Solution. GM also honed development to pump out new EVs in a mere 26 months—half the traditional development time for a new vehicle.
GM and LG are building a $2.3 billion joint battery cell plant in Lordstown, Ohio, too. The two companies are already working on second-generation Ultium chemistry, expected mid-decade, which is projected to double the pack’s energy density while cutting its costs in half (and bringing costs close to parity with those of gasoline vehicles).
