Biggest battery on the market sledgehammers trailering needs, crosses fingers for fast charging at your destination
If you’re one of the rare people intent on using their full-size pickup to actually do truck stuff like towing and hauling (versus the statistical majority who employ these behemoths exclusively as empty-bed daily drivers), you’ve not doubt been curious about how the latest crop of electrified options hold up.
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Just like their gas-fired equivalents, it’s a well known fact that battery-powered trucks and SUVs see their range suffer considerably when asked to deal with the unruly aero and additional weight of a trailer load. Unlike an internal-combustion (ICE) vehicle, however, it’s much more painful to charge when hauling long-distance, given the additional time commitment versus a splash-n-go, combined with the likelihood of having to unhitch due to the scarcity of pull-through stations.
Dragging the lithium mine with you
There are a few important asterisks to attach to those imposing figures. In addition to any trailer weight, the Silverado EV is first charged with hauling itself around, a not insubstantial task considering that it weighs in the neighbourhood of 9,000 pounds (just over 4,000 kilograms). About 3,000 pounds of that weight is in the battery itself, meaning the truck is toting around the equivalent of a Subaru BRZ at all times. Peek under those running boards and you’ll see how it drags all that mass down under its belly.
Four-wheel steer shrinks top-spec models
I wasn’t planning on pulling anything near 10,000 pounds. Instead, my load of choice — an aluminium Trailex trailer pulling my 1978 Datsun 280Z track car — weighed in closer to 3,500 pounds. That’s fairly manageable mass for nearly any mid- to full-sized pickup or SUV to tackle, giving me an easily comparable yardstick to other towing experiences I’ve had with recent vehicles.
Right off the bat, it was clear that the Silverado’s considerable torque and anchor-like curb weight had a huge stabilizing effect. My load might as well have not been there for all that either the truck or myself in the driver’s seat noticed it while negotiating the ups-and-downs of the mountain roads surrounding my Quebec home. While it’s important to note that the heady power figures advertised by Chevrolet are only accessible when running in “Wide Open Watts” performance mode (not something you’ll ever do while towing), it’s clear that in regular driving there’s still twist for days.
Despite the smooth tow, the Silverado EV’s mass, combined with the trailer, did have an effect on cornering. Specifically, entering into a turn a little too quickly left little room for error, and the Chevrolet bent towards the oncoming lane a few times before I learned to be more conservative in my approach.
I appreciated the vehicle’s Super Cruise hands-free driving system, a form of hands-off, eyes-up driver assistance that works even with a trailer attached (not a given among other full-size trucks). Although it doesn’t deliver the same automated lane changes as it does in the Cadillac Escalade while towing, it’s still an effective, safe, and predictable assist on longer trips.
The Silverado EV also proved a winner when operating in tighter confines. Helping to manage its formidable size is a four-wheel steering system that’s standard on the RST model. It’s no gimmick: with the extra pivot at the rear, the Chevrolet became the first full-size pickup capable of rounding the sharp kink in my driveway while reversing my trailer into its parking spot beside the garage. Previously, I’d only been able to accomplish this manoeuvre with vehicles featuring a much shorter wheelbase.
The Silverado EV is inefficient with its battery charge
The entire reason that the electric Chevy can claim up to 740 kilometres of range per charge for the RST trim is the extreme size of its battery. Imagine if the bed of a gas-powered Silverado were filled entirely with a fuel tank, and you’ll be close to the philosophy behind the EV version’s design.
Gas is much more energy-dense than current battery technology allows for, so the analogy isn’t one-for-one, but looking at how much energy the Silverado EV consumes in regular driving versus towing is instructive. I saw 36 kW per 100 km when driving the truck unloaded, a number that spiked to 56 kW per 100 km with my modest trailer package along for the ride.
The on-dash range guess-timator cut the available km’s per charge in half as soon as I hooked up, but in actual practice it was a little conservative. Still, that 40 percent increase in the amount of energy used by the RST is significant, and you can imagine how much higher that figure would climb with a less aerodynamic load or when approaching its 10,000-pound towing limit.
Would 400 kilometres or of towing be “enough” to get me and my Datsun to my destination before having to plug in again? Sure, there are a couple of race tracks that roughly fall within that radius, albeit with a few mountain ranges to climb through that could further tighten the noose. Unfortunately, this raises the spectre of the other issues facing down the Silverado EV’s plus-size battery: an equally lengthy amount of time required to top it up again.
Able to charge at speeds of up to 190 kW, on my home level 2 charger the Silverado took ages to replenish its electrical stores (much longer than the 131-kWh package found in the extended range F-150 Lightning). If you don’t find a super-fast DC setup along your route, you could be looking at an extended charging station stay should your journey extend over the reduced range horizon.
Sledgehammer solution
That being said, it’s an inelegant answer to a problem that will likely be solved by future infrastructure improvements or advances in battery technology. Until that time comes — and if you can afford the $123,000 price tag that comes with the RST’s top trim package — Chevrolet’s alternative is to overpower its rivals and hope that there’s a 350-kW charging station waiting at the end of every journey.
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