2024 Chevy Silverado EV

The Chevy Silverado EV, as its name suggests, is an all-electric full-size pickup truck that's on sale alongside the gas-powered Silverado 1500. While the two both use the Silverado name, the EV is comprised of very different parts from its combustion sibling. This truck instead shares its underpinnings with the GMC Hummer EV and soon-to-be GMC Sierra EV.

Chevy now has two versions of the Silverado EV on sale: the Work Truck (WT) and the RST, though only the latter is available for the general public. The 2024 Silverado EV RST First Edition costs roughly $96,000. Starting with the 2025 model year, the lineup will expand to include less expensive options. After our first drive with the fully loaded RST, we think it’s wise to wait it out until then.

The RST First Edition promises up to 754 horsepower and more than 785 lb-ft of torque when using the Wide Open Watts launch control mode. That's an impressive amount of thrust, and about 200 hp more powerful than the Ford F-150 Lightning's most powerful battery option.

More impressive than the power on offer is the Silverado EV’s exceptional range. With its massive battery pack, the RST can travel 440 miles on a full charge according to Chevrolet. This makes it the farthest-driving electric pickup in the game, outrunning the F-150 Lightning and the Rivian R1T. We look forward to putting the truck through our Edmunds EV Range Test and seeing how the Silverado EV performs in the real world.

Under the Silverado’s skin is an 800-volt architecture that allows the pickup to take full advantage of the fastest chargers on the market. The system can draw up to 350 kW, which is the current maximum afforded by the newest DC fast-charging stations. Plug into one of these stations, and the Silverado can charge up to 100 miles in just 10 minutes, Chevy says. That's potentially about twice as quick as what the F-150 Lightning will do. But again, we'll know more once we do our own independent Edmunds Charging Test.

With roughly the same footprint as a Silverado 1500 and a much heavier 9,000-ish-pound curb weight, the Silverado EV is a beast on wheels. Hopping into the driver’s seat, you are immediately aware that this is a massive piece of machinery.

Our first drive experience started on a closed road about an hour outside of Detroit, where we had the chance to do a few acceleration runs. There’s a bit of a pre-flight checklist to go through, which includes setting up the My Mode driving profile to Sport across the board, dropping the ride height to its lowest setting and hitting the Wide Open Watts (WOW) button. After that, it’s right foot down as hard as you can. With over 750 hp racing to all four wheels, this behemoth can boogie, provided you push all the right buttons first.

But back out in the real world, and without WOW activated, the RST is a much tamer animal. Chevy engineers wouldn’t disclose how much power the truck produces in Normal mode, but it’s certainly less than the advertised 754-hp figure. It has enough juice to get up and moving without a problem, but it doesn’t feel anywhere close to the quad-motor Rivian R1T or tri-motor Hummer EV.

Then again, do you really need 700-plus hp from your EV truck? Range is arguably more important. And here, the Silverado EV RST has a leg up. We drove for hours during our time with the truck and still had plenty of juice left in the truck’s battery. There’s a real sense that a product like this can quell even the most severe case of range anxiety, which is exactly what Chevy is banking on. The extra range could also be beneficial to counteract the inherent range losses when towing.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the Silverado EV is a bit of a handful when you take a corner with some enthusiasm. The chassis felt strong with the air suspension working hard to prevent body roll as much as it could. Michigan isn’t known for having dynamic driving roads, but every time we had the chance to turn in hard, it was evident that the tires were giving up before the truck. Low-speed corners on the other hand were less of an issue with the Silverado EV’s excellent rear steering system keeping the turning circle nice and tight.

With Cyberbeasts and 1,000-hp Hummers on the roads, Chevy had to come to the table with something exciting in the RST. But we came away feeling that the Silverado EV felt much better when driven like a normal truck — not a performance machine.

The Silverado EV RST rides on 24-inch wheels and weighs a ton — well, actually 4.5 tons. These two factors, along with the need for great efficiency, mean that Chevy has to run the tires at crazy-high pressure (over 60 psi) to perform.

When these very-inflated tires come into contact with any bumps in the road, they let you know it. This isn’t a product of bad suspension tuning — the Silverado EV’s air suspension is really nice — but this truck could be better behaved on bad roads with smaller wheels and bigger sidewalls. Chevy will offer those two things on future trim levels like the LT. But for now, its RST and its 24-inchers are mandatory if you want a Silverado EV.

The Silverado EV’s interior has all the hallmarks of a full-size truck interior including huge passenger space, loads of cupholders, and a decent list of comfort features. The plus here is that even your tallest friends can be comfortable in any seat on a long journey, no questions asked. Shy of a Maybach, this truck has some of the best legroom we’ve ever experienced in a back seat.

But that’s about the only thing about this interior that rivals a luxury vehicle. For nearly $100,000, the Silverado EV’s cabin simply isn’t luxurious enough. Instead of the wood and nice materials that you’d find in a 1500 High Country, the EV is filled with sections of hard black plastics and random red stitching. The upcoming Sierra Denali EV looks to remedy all of that, albeit for a bit more money.

The RST comes loaded with all of the tech as standard. The 17.7-inch touchscreen does not have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto to fully integrate your smartphone. It's a bummer, though the Google-based interface does offer a nice experience, including Google Maps and Google Assistant.

The RST also comes standard with Super Cruise hands-free driving tech. GM is expanding the system’s capability to work on over 750,000 miles of mapped roads across the country. Super Cruise is our favorite hands-free driving system in the business, and it keeps getting better with time.

Full-size trucks are very practical vehicles out of the box, but the Silverado EV goes a few steps beyond the norm. It comes with a typical 5-foot bed and can handle up to 1,500 pounds of payload. Chevy also installed a clever midgate that allows the rear seats to fold down flat and provide access to the bed. That means items up to 9 feet long, like a kayak, can fit with the tailgate up. There’s one more party trick with the power-operated front trunk. This space has extra plugs for charging devices and is big enough to handle a suitcase or two on its own.

When it comes to towing, the Silverado EV can take on 10,000 pounds. That puts its behind the Rivian R1T and Tesla Cybertruck’s maximum weight of 11,000 pounds but equal to the F-150 Lightning’s max capacity. It’s also worth noting that the Silverado is the only truck in the bunch that can tow while using a hands-free driving system.

We’re eager to get our hands on other trim levels of this truck in the future. The promise of a lower price tag, equal if not better range, and some smaller wheels sounds like a better package.