General Motors recently published its sustainability report for 2019, which details the upcoming expansion of GM’s EV portfolio. No fewer than 20 new electric vehicles scheduled to arrive by 2023. And, as noticed by Autoblog, one of the new vehicles quietly mentioned will be a full-size Chevy truck offering a potentially groundbreaking 400-plus miles of range.
This vehicle should not come as a surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention. GM is making a major push into EVs with its new Ultium battery technology, and pretty much teased a Chevy truck during that announcement with a silhouette that looked very Silverado like. Pairing the company’s most exciting tech with its most popular (and profitable) vehicle is a natural fit. Besides, Ford would have likely forced Chevy to produce an electric full-size truck anyway, in to compete with the upcoming electric F-150.
Not mentioned: whether Chevy will brand the truck as a variant of the Silverado, or as a new model. The report does note that it’s no longer necessary to make EVs look distinct from their internal combustion counterparts, which could suggest something that looks very much like a Silverado and just happens to have a different power plant. Such a truck could be a more mainstream alternative to the Hummer EV truck arriving in 2021.
It’s not clear yet how truck buyers will react to electric trucks. Hybrids are a novelty in the segment, and even Chevy’s foray into four-pot gas territory with the Silverado was a total whiff at the pitch. But one imagines that if the trucks look similar to their current trucks and blow them away on capability, truck buyers may come around. Still, expect EV pickups to operate alongside rather than replace fixtures like a Raptor-fighting gas truck in the intermediate term.