If the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST Doesn't Have Enough Range, You Might Be the Problem

How far does an EV need to travel for Americans to stop worrying about range? Is it 300 miles? 400? For the sake of everyone’s sanity, we’re hoping—pleading, really—that the 440-mile 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST will move the discussion along.

Yes, yes—we know your second cousin tows a 10,000-pound trailer 600 miles up a mountain every day for work. But this electric pickup simply has to be on the right side of the range threshold for the rest of truck-lovin’, suburban-dwelling America. Now that Silverado EV RST deliveries are underway, you can conceivably pilot a full-size truck from Chicago to Cleveland or Dallas to Jackson or Boise to Salt Lake City without stopping. Roll out the banner and take a picture of this 9,100-pound four-wheeled aircraft carrier, because this has to be the MISSION ACCOMPLISHED moment for electric pickups.

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Chevy hits that big range number not with a proprietary battery chemistry or a neurotic focus on efficiency, but by way of brute-force engineering. The RST stacks battery modules in two layers like Big Mac patties to cram a beefy 205-kWh pack under the floor. It’s a uniquely American solution to the uniquely American problem of wanting our passenger vehicles sized like construction equipment and capable of crossing entire states in one 80-mph shot.

One Problem Solved, Others Exacerbated

By tackling the range problem the way it has, Chevy has simultaneously made it harder to slay the three-headed hydra of generalized EV anxiety. That big battery pack doesn’t pull the price down or help you recharge to full any faster. The entire first year of RST production is dedicated to the $96,395 First Edition and we can’t help but wonder how much cheaper Silverado EV would be if the pack was 30 to 40 percent smaller, as in the electric trucks from Ford, Rivian, and Tesla.

Buyers who charge at home will likely marvel at the money saved when they refuel their full-size truck for about $40, while those using the exorbitantly priced fast-charging infrastructure will wonder why they’re still paying more than $100 to fill up. At the most powerful stations, the Silverado can be jolted with up to 350 kilowatts to add 100 miles in 10 minutes of charging, which sounds good by today’s standards. In reality, the advantage of more powerful charging is likely to be largely wiped out by the Silverado EV’s lower efficiency. Once real-world efficiency knocks the numbers down by 20 percent or more, Chevy’s truck will likely be marginally quicker at regaining range than every other EV truck we’ve tested.

It’s Not Your Grandfather’s C10

But we don’t expect truck owners to suddenly start caring about efficiency just because their pickup runs on electricity. Silverado EV buyers will likely be too enamored with the driving experience to ever notice. In addition to going the distance, the Silverado EV RST goes quickly and comfortably. Chevy engineers say they took strides to make their battery-powered truck drive like the gas one. But that didn’t come across in our drive and the electric Silverado is better for it. The EV’s unibody structure and four-corner independent suspension tame the busy ride of an unloaded, nose-heavy body-on-frame truck. Armed with air springs and adaptive dampers and helped by near-even weight distribution, the electric Silverado handles with the carlike competence of a crossover. Compared to a crew-cab, short-bed Silverado 1500, it can cut a U-turn in a space that’s five feet narrower thanks to four-wheel steering and a wheelbase that’s shorter by 1.7 inches.

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In the suspension’s Tour mode, the ride is mostly relaxing without being cushy. Hit a big pothole or just bump it up to Sport mode (there’s also an intermediate Normal setting), though, and you become acutely aware the Silverado EV rides on 24-inch wheels wrapped in low-profile tires inflated to 61 and 68 psi front and rear. The ride becomes stiff and brittle, sending thumps and bangs into the cabin. The truck turns eagerly enough in Tour mode that there’s a good chance you’ll never want to use anything else.

The Real Surprise of WOW Mode

The heavy Chevy can run thanks to front and rear permanent-magnet motors that combine for 754 horsepower and 785 lb-ft of torque. Possibly that’s too much thrust. During a demo of the full-power Wide Open Watts mode, driver after driver rocketed away cleanly only to start a slow weave around 40 mph. Amusement switched to horror when I took my turn. In 15 years of testing cars, I’ve never steered so much to drive straight.

It’s not that the launch is squirrely. On the contrary. There’s no tire slip to manage and 0–60-mph takes 4.5 seconds, which is hardly hair-on-fire pace in an EV. If I had to guess, Chevy’s using the electric power steering to hide some torque steer and the calibration needs more development. It doesn’t feel flagrantly unsafe—it’s easy enough to keep the truck in its lane—but if you find yourself behind the wheel or facing an RST on the opposite side of an intersection, consider yourself warned.

Bringing the Outdoors Inside

Despite the gimmicky name, WOW mode isn’t the Silverado EV’s calling card anyway. Chevy’s party trick (every electric truck needs one) is a Rube Goldberg machine of rubber gaskets, plastic trim, and hinges between the cab and the bed. This so-called midgate fixes the one flaw with every other pickup that truck owners never want to admit: When it comes to hauling objects more than eight feet long, minivans and crossovers often work better than a truck.

The midgate solves that problem by extending the bed from 5 feet, 11 inches to 9 feet. It’s not a new idea—the Chevy Avalanche did the same thing more than a decade ago—but the Silverado adds a new 60/40-split function so you can use one or two rear seats with the pass-through open. Leave the rear window and optional hard tonneau cover in place for a huge weatherproof, lockable space for larger gear to go along to the 10.7-cubic-foot frunk that will easily swallow a couple large duffel bags.

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Like the Ford F-150 Lightning, there are enough plugs on board to power an elaborate campsite, and it can act as a backup generator for your entire house. The 10,000-pound max towing rating is comparable with that of similar gas trucks and electric competitors, and if you’re not driving long distances, we can vouch that you’ll never notice a 5,000-pound cargo trailer hitched to the RST. The payload capacity of 1,500 pounds, however, is on the low side for a truck this big.

What You Get for Your Money

As in every gas crew-cab, full-size truck, the cabin is cavernous with a limo-like rear seat. But to fit the battery under the truck without hurting headroom, both the front and rear seat bottoms sit close to the floor and the roof is a large pane of glass with no sunshade. Those are compromises to comfort relative to the gas Silverado 1500.

The interior doesn’t feel as rich as the price tag, either. The red and blue stitching across the dash of our early production truck looked like it had been threaded by a robot that had never seen a sewing machine before. To help justify the price, the First Edition includes at least every convenience feature you could want, including the ability to tow a trailer without steering the truck. GM’s Super Cruise hands-free driver-assistance system is wildly impressive, especially when it’s automatically changing lanes to pass slower traffic. The company says you’ll be able to use it on 750,000 miles of roads in 2025.

The one thing missing from the equipment list will be a deal-breaker for some shoppers. GM’s latest infotainment system doesn’t support Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Instead, the 17.7-inch screen runs Google Maps, Google Assistant, and your favorite music streaming app natively. It all works well enough that we’d embrace the change if it didn't mean you'll eventually need to pay a second monthly payment on top of the monthly payment for the truck itself. After a three-year trial, you'll need to a subscription (currently $15 a month) to stream music on downloaded apps like Spotify and basic Google services such as navigation and voice commands are only guaranteed to be free for eight years (what happens after that is unclear). Apparently the only thing built in to Chevy's Google Built-In features is a method for processing credit card payments. As a workaround, you can stream music from your phone over Bluetooth like it's 2009 again—or buy a different truck.

More Electric Trucks Lead to Better Electric Trucks

We’ll wait until we conduct a MotorTrend Road-Trip Range test on the Chevrolet Silverado EV to declare the range problem solved, but our first drive looks promising. With Chevy’s entry into the market, five brands are now fighting over a small slice of electric pickup pie. That seems like a lot for how small the market is right now, but if all the competition leads to better electric trucks with more range, faster charging, and—please, please, please—lower prices, then it’s exactly the right number as far as we’re concerned.