First-ever Chevrolet Silverado Electric Pickup to Be Built Alongside GMC HUMMER EV
GM’s new Factory ZERO assembly plant will build only electric vehicles. The Silverado EV and HUMMER EV will be the first built there.
General Motors President Mark Reuss recently announced Chevrolet will introduce a Silverado electric pickup truck that will be built at the company’s Factory ZERO assembly plant in Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan. It may sound like a trendy new diet soda but Factory Zero will be dedicated to producing only electric vehicles. GM is investing $2.2 billion in its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant to retool it for electric vehicle production. The plant will be expanded to over 4.5 million square feet. “The vehicles coming from Factory ZERO will change the world, and how the world views electric vehicles,” said Reuss. The world is changing, there is no question about that. A Silverado EV and a HUMMER EV would have been met with laughter 20 years ago. Today, it is the future.
The Silverado EV is designed from the start to be a fully electric vehicle. GM is estimating that the range of the truck will be 400 miles on a full charge. That is an aggressive goal. It will be interesting to see how towing and hauling in the Silverado EV will impact the overall range. Miles per gallon certainly suffer in a traditional gas- or diesel-powered truck when towing a heavy load. GM will be relying on their new Ultium batteries to ensure the trucks still perform under all conditions.
The HUMMER EV will come to market first with the exclusive Edition 1. This will be the top dog in the new HUMMER EV range. It will be the highest performing and most efficient model. It will be equipped with about 1,000 horsepower and accelerate to 60 mph in about 3 seconds. As a result, this will be the most capable and impressive electric supertruck on the market. Despite what Elon Musk may have to say. Production of the HUMMER EV Edition 1 is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2023.
GM is fully committed to delivering on electric vehicles. Therefore, by the year 2025 GM expects to offer 30 all-electric models for sale globally. They have invested $7 billion in EV and autonomous vehicle development in 2021 alone. More than half of GM spending will go towards electric and autonomous vehicle development. That includes the hiring of over 3,000 electrical system, infotainment software and controls engineers. The goal is to offer an electric vehicle for every consumer need across all price points. This is a seismic shift we are witnessing. We are living through a historical moment in the lifecycle of the automobile. Walking into a Chevy dealer in just four years’ time is going to look quite different than it does today.
Are you excited about this change? The performance figures of these electric vehicles sure seem promising. As a result, that should help take some of the sting out of missing a traditional V8 under the hood. However, is that and the greater efficiency enough to sway you? Are you as ready as GM to embrace the electric revolution? Let us know your thoughts in the Chevrolet Forum forums.
Images: GM.com
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