Chevrolet is joining the EV truck craze with an electric version of the Silverado for the lineup starting with the 2024 model year.

Will this truck be competitive with the new Ford Lightning? Will the Silverado EV be a truck that gives us something the new GM Hummer EV isn’t bringing to the market? Can this new electric truck be used at the job sites every day?

The answers to these questions just might surprise you when you think about the purpose of a truck.

What are Trucks Supposed to Do?

Pickup trucks were first created to be the workhorse of the auto industry. With an open bed in the back and a powerful engine up front, these vehicles have been hauling, carrying, and towing heavy loads for more than 100 years. Most trucks are looked at as vehicles for work, with the expectation that they can be used to make life better at a job site. Recently, some trucks have been made to go away from some of the truck basics to be recreational machines made to make playtime more fun. Is that what the new Chevrolet Silverado EV truck will be used for?

Let’s Get the Ugliness Out of the Way

When the new electric Silverado arrives in the market, the price is going to make some people step back and wonder what GM is thinking. By the time Chevy has their electric truck in the market, the Ford Lightning will have a couple of years under its belt. The Ford is being offered with a base price of $41,669 while offering several options for upgrades. We’re used to this type of build of a vehicle and understand what it means to add more for the drive.

Chevrolet is going to bring its EV truck to us with a starting sticker price of $105,000. Is that a truck you feel you would want to take out on the trails or to a job site for a day of work? That price point is for the RST model, which will be offered first. It will be one additional year before we see the Work Truck version of the Silverado EV, which will have a starting price of $39,900. While that will undercut the Ford, it might be a little too late, and Chevy should likely consider switching the release dates of each trim.

An Amazing Truck Wearing the Right Name

If it’s possible to get beyond the price difference between the Ford and Chevy models, you’ll see an incredible truck on display when you look at the electric Silverado. This will be a truck that wears a full glass roof to give you the views up and out at the sky that you want to admire during your time on the road. This roof is made to offer desired visibility, increase headroom, and make your passengers say, “Wow!” every time you take them for a drive.

Using the Ultim Platform of battery-electric driving, the Chevrolet Silverado EV truck is expected to bring you up to 400 miles of electric driving on a full charge. That is a better driving range than what you find in the Ford Lightning. Power levels are impressive in the Chevy as well. The RST version will give you 664 horsepower and 780 lb.-ft. of torque while the WT model will still bring 510 horsepower and 615 lb.-ft. of torque when you’re out on the road. This is enough power to make sure you can tow up to 10,000 pounds when you need to.

Here’s a Truck that is Truly Versatile

The length of the bed in the Chevrolet Silverado EV is 5 feet 11 inches long, but that length can be increased by folding down the rear seat and removing the rear glass. This means you can carry full sheets of plywood and drywall when you need to, or you can have this truck work great for times with the family when the seats are in the upright position. You’ll also enjoy the versatile feature of the Multi-Pro flexible gate that gives you different functions to ensure you can have the space you need to get things done at the back of this truck.

Will the Luxury Version Be the Right Truck?

Is Chevy making the right decision in the market, or should they follow the same path as Ford? With the luxurious, expensive, and high-class RST version being offered first, there seems to be a desire to give us new models the same way that we see with EV giant Tesla. This action follows the same path as GMC with the Hummer EV truck that is being offered with its top model first, while the lower trims will follow later.

Is there enough of a desire for luxury electric vehicles in this area of the market to make this decision the right one? GM seems to think this is the right move, using both EV trucks this way, but the only way to know for sure will be to see if they are able to hit their sales goals. There’s no denying the fact that these high-priced electric trucks are certainly going to bring more profit per model to the GM brands than the later models that will be sold at lower prices.

The Craze is On; Which Company is Next?

Now that we see three electric trucks being offered by two of the Detroit Big Three automakers, it brings a couple of questions to mind? When will we see the Ram 1500 electric truck? (you know there has to be one in the works) What other brands are preparing to offer electric trucks?

The reveal of the Chevrolet Silverado EV truck is just the latest in the movement toward electric powertrains for the trucks we love to drive. It won’t be long before we see a market filled with trucks that run on batteries trying to outperform each other with more power and driving range than the competition.