Chevy’s Silverado EV Just Drove a Record 1,059 Miles On One Charge—Here’s How
Just weeks after Lucid snagged a record for “longest journey by an electric car on a single charge," Chevy up and stole it.
EV startup Lucid Motors is extremely proud of achieving its lofty range statistics the hard way—by rigorously engineering efficiency into its motors, drivelines, body aerodynamics, and chassis. General Motors treads a slightly easier path with its electric trucks: cramming a lot more batteries in. Each approach suits the disparate automakers’ different target audiences—as do the conditions experienced in each of the recent Guinness Book of World Records record claims. Fancy Lucid achieved its 748.9-mile record by driving a circuitous (and mountainous) route between St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Munich, Germany. “Oh yeah?” harumphed the engineering team behind GM’s electric trucks, “Watch this.”
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The Challenge
The team responsible for General Motors’ electric trucks (the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV, and GMC Hummer EV Pickup) had a hunch its most efficient variant, driven gently around southeast Michigan, might just be able to best that snooty 112-kWh Lucid. That variant is the Work Truck edition of the 2026 Chevrolet Silverado EV equipped with the 205-kWh Max Range battery pack, using the best nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry. It’s rated at 493 miles of EPA combined range.
The Plan
So, the team rounded up a brand new base Silverado EV WT with just 500 break-in miles showing on the odometer, equipped it with a tonneau cover, and devised a plan to let numerous team members take turns soft-pedaling their baby at low speeds around the greater Detroit metroplex, ranging from GM’s Milford Proving Ground environs down to Detroit’s Belle Isle Park (of Grand Prix racing fame).
They made no hardware or software modifications, aside from equipping the truck with a set of tires that were well worn (they basically flunked our Lincoln’s-head penny test at the wear bars) and inflated to their max rated pressure (80 psi, up from the placard’s no-load rating of 61 psi). Beyond that, the rules were simple: Drive at lower speeds (the average was below 25 mph) and leave the HVAC off with the windows cracked (once the odometer passed 1,000 miles, they allowed themselves a bit of air-conditioned comfort).
40 Engineers, 7 Days, 1059.2 Miles
In all, 40 team members took the helm over a period of seven days, driving on a lot of lightly traveled (sometimes gravel) roads. Jon Doremus, engineering manager, electrification propulsion calibration, was at the helm, circling the wide ring road around Belle Isle, when the Silverado EV WT expended its last valiant watt. At that point the trip computer confirmed the totals: 1059.2 miles traveled, averaging 4.9 miles/kWh (roughly doubling the EPA rating of roughly 2.4 miles/kWh). That just beats the Lucid Grand Touring XR with 19-inch wheels official EPA efficiency rating of 4.6 miles/kWh. Lucid’s hypermilers achieved over 6 miles/kWh, but then they were going downhill—St. Moritz averages about 4,000 feet higher than Munich, while metro Detroit is basically flat.
Truck Produces Trophy
The dead truck was hauled back to Milford, its battery was topped up, and the energy used to power a Stratasys F370 3D printer, which spent 6.5 hours printing an ABS plastic trophy to commemorate the auspicious event, which barely depleted the big battery.
We’d caution the GM team to celebrate hard now, because this record may not stand for long. Lucid’s record broke a June 2025 record set by a Mercedes-Benz EQS 450+, driven 649 miles over two days in Japan.
I started critiquing cars at age 5 by bumming rides home from church in other parishioners’ new cars. At 16 I started running parts for an Oldsmobile dealership and got hooked on the car biz. Engineering seemed the best way to make a living in it, so with two mechanical engineering degrees I joined Chrysler to work on the Neon, LH cars, and 2nd-gen minivans. Then a friend mentioned an opening for a technical editor at another car magazine, and I did the car-biz equivalent of running off to join the circus. I loved that job too until the phone rang again with what turned out to be an even better opportunity with Motor Trend. It’s nearly impossible to imagine an even better job, but I still answer the phone…
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