Video: 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV WT Quick Spin: Starting Off on the Right Foot

Now, this isn't the one you the consumer are going to be able to buy until 2025, but this was also our fiRST chance to drive any Silverado EV and we know you want to hear about it. We wanna learn about it. So we took the chance. So here we are and the reason we're starting in the car is because it's raining and I'm very delicate. So let's start with the obvious. This is a work truck. It's very bare bones compared to the RST. That is going to be the fiRST model available to the public. This will only be sold to fleet customers for the fiRST year, 2025. Again, you'll be able to get one of these. It's a little bit less powerful than the RST. Interior is a lot more basic. I was hoping for crank windows. Apparently those are more expensive these days than power windows. So you've got those. Weirdly, you also have a power tilt and telescope for the steering wheel. That's just a ease of manufacturing thing with the RST. Makes things easier to just have those shared parts. Other differences from the RST you have a smaller touchscreen here. This is 11 inches, I believe and then you have the eight inch digital instrument panel. Everything feels very durable in here. Not necessarily the nicest materials. This is hard plastic. This is hard plastic, but this is actually very nice for a work truck, which is kind of interesting to me. Normally those are just zero content for reference. If you're wondering what a work truck is like think of, you know, the U-Haul. You'd get to, you know, run a load to the dump or something. Every Silverado EV work truck RST everything is going to be a crew cab body style. Chevy's really proud of all the cabin room in here. Honestly, I've never been cramped in a crew cab full-size pickup truck to begin with but it is very roomy up front and in back. You get a lot of storage up here. There's wireless device charging down here. It's very configurable. Otherwise, the driving experience is fairly trucky. This is a heavy truck. It's about 8,500 pounds curb weight. It has 510 horsepower and 615 pounds. Feet of torque, which sounds like a lot. That's a lot for most pickup trucks. But this thing is so heavy that really it doesn't actually feel all that quick. I think the lightning felt a little bit quicker to me. The one I drove was a fully loaded Ford Lightning. This is a work truck, Silverado EV. So not exactly comparable but the lightning does have a lot more torque. According to the specs. Chevy does say, if you put this into tow hall mode you will get a little bit more power and a little bit closer to the RSTs power figures which are a sort of vague 754 horsepower and at least 785 pounds feet of torque. They won't say how close you'll actually get to those numbers in tow hall, but it's something. There are additional differences between this and the Silverado EV RST that you'll be able to buy as well. So this rides on 18 inch wheels instead of the 24s that the RST comes with. The RST is also available with an adaptive air suspension here. You just have springs front and rear. We're currently driving this empty which is usually a more bouncy way to drive a truck. I think a lot of the weight from the battery pack and how heavy this truck is is doing a good job of controlling some of that. Normally, trucks ride, you know a little better if you've got payload in the back. The springs are stiffer to be able to carry that weight and without anything in the back. It can be kind of a bouncy ride more so in heavy duties than light duty trucks but still a little bit in the light duty segment here. I think that weight helps. It's not as bouncy. There's still some, but you do get some added comfort. Acceleration wise, this is again, a very heavy truck. Even with that 510 horsepower, 615 pounds feet of torque it just doesn't feel very quick. It feels about as quick as a regular old light duty pickup truck. I feel like our long term 2021 F150 hybrid might actually feel a little quicker. The Lightning definitely felt quicker but it's not objectionable. It's not slow. There's still power when you need it on the highway. But one of the interesting things Chevy has done this is a clean sheet design. It's not just a Silverado with batteries instead of a gas powertrain there's less of a front overhang lower hood. It helps with forward visibility. It actually still feels very big. The truck looks very big. The crew cab design with the integrated sail panels makes it feel more like the RAM mega cab very bulky. Dimension wise, it's not actually that different in terms of length or width than the F-150 Lightning but just visually it feels like it is which is a little bit disarming. It doesn't really drive very big, which is nice, but it definitely feels like a pickup truck when you're driving it. So we're getting on the highway now which is a great time to talk about the Silverado EV, especially the Silverado EV work truck's biggest differentiator, which is its range. It's EPA rated to 450 miles of total range. Very, very impressive. You know, we'll have to do more testing to validate that but at first blush it seems to be accurate and that's significantly more than the F-150 Lightning the Rivian R1T it's even more than the Hummer EV right now, which is made by fellow GM brand GMC, and to help you with that range you also get one pedal driving kind of annoyingly. To me, it's a button at the top of this touch screen in previous Chevy EVs. It would be a physical control down here. I prefer that still. I'm not necessarily a huge fan of the one pedal operation. There are essentially three settings for the one pedal driving. There's off. You have to use the brake pedal which feels a little vague and mushy, but works fairly well. There's on, which is the medium setting essentially and then there's a high setting and the high setting is just much too abrupt. It's very, very difficult to modulate. Your passengers will probably complain as you let off the gas and the truck does a great job of stopping itself but really stops itself much too quickly. It's not comfortable. It's very abrupt, not my favorite. I'm sure with enough time behind the wheel you can get used to it but in this limited time really wasn't my thing. That 450 mile range makes the work truck, you know great for longer trips. You don't have to charge as often. If you have home charging, that's not really an issue. But if you don't, not having to charge at a public charging station as often is helpful. Although again, we recommend if you buy an EV you should really consider home charging. You can read all about that and our editor's experience installing home charging on our site, but it's really the way to go. That said, what also makes this great for trips is it's 350 kilowatt DC fast charging capability where Chevy says you could add 100 miles of range in 10 minutes of charging in ideal conditions. That also means the station is actually delivering 350 kilowatts, which we don't have a lot of experience seeing on public stations. A lot of public stations aren't rated to deliver that much but in theory this should be a very fast charging pickup truck In ideal conditions, at least handling wise I am not expecting a lot. It is a pickup truck. Those are not anything to write home about when it comes to handling. Fairly balanced, again, the battery pack gives you a lower center of gravity so that helps. But the suspension is kind of floaty a little bit. It is a work truck not expecting a lot. You'll see some body roll in corners. It's not the sharp sharpest handling thing. The RST is going to have that air suspension. I mentioned adaptive air suspension which should help a bit, and it's going to come with four wheel steering as an option which should make it even more nimble. I was already pretty impressed with the turning circle in the work truck, and that should make it even smaller which will be very impressive I hope. But we'll have to see. Again, we're only driving the work truck today so more to come on how the Silverado EV handles. What really impresses me is despite the whole clean sheet truck design this still feels very much like a truck. Chevy did a great job of making it new without making it so weird that it just feels wrong. It just feels like a full-size pickup truck. It feels a little heavier than a full-size pickup truck if I'm honest, but not objectionably. So, because it has all that power and all that instant power from the electric motors. Another thing that makes the 4WT so interesting is its starting price work. Trucks are traditionally the lower cost trucks and technically yes, this costs less than the RST will. The RST has a six figure price tag, but this one starts at just under $78,000 before destination which is a lot for a work truck. It certainly doesn't feel like a nearly $80,000 interior. You're getting a lot of technology a lot of capability for the money. The pitch is also, you know, this doesn't need oil changes it should need less maintenance. So you pay more upfront your costs should be lower in the long run. We'll have to see how that bears out but it is very, very pricey. There's a $73,000 work truck on the way Chevy's filling out the whole Silverado EV lineup. Over time, there's going to be a Trail boss version. There's probably honestly going to be a Silverado EV analog to every trim you can think of for the gas powered Silverado. Those will be coming as production ramps up and as the lineup expands. The really sad news that we learned here is that the sub $40,000 version of the Silverado EV that was promised when the truck debuted will not be that price anymore. Chevy isn't saying what the cheapest version will be but it's going to be more than that $40,000 price that isn't actually all that unusual. We've been seeing a lot of EV pickup truck prices increasing over time. The Ford F-150 Lightning Pro, the cheapest model you can get of that is much more expensive than it was when it debuted. It's unfortunate because so far I am really enjoying my time in this and a more affordable version would let more folks drive this more to come obviously as Chevy builds out the Silverado EV lineup. But just know that if you were counting on that $40,000 version, sorry, it's gonna be more. Part of being a work truck, is also doing work truck things and it does have some limitations thanks to its own weight but towing capacity is a maximum of 10,000 pounds. You do have an integrated trailer brake controller on this trim level and payload capacity is 1400 pounds actually slightly more than the RST. That's usually how it works in the pickup truck world. This is probably a bit lighter than what the RST will be. So yeah, let's go see how the Silverado EV work truck tows. We are now towing in the Silverado EV work truck. We have about 8,900 pounds of weight behind us according to the folks here at Chevy. It's a big old John Deere tractor on a flatbed trailer and we're getting close to, but not actually reaching the 10,000 pound maximum towing capacity. So it's a fairly good test of what the truck can do. The second we got in the range estimate dropped we're now at 142 miles of range with a half full battery. A little bit more, not too bad but that's one of the downsides to EV truck things is your range is going to drop significantly just like it would in a gas truck but it can be harder to deal with when you need to charge. So something to keep in mind, we're hoping the infrastructure improves. It's not really conducive right now to having a trailer behind you and trying to charge at most public charging stations. Hopefully things improve. This is honestly rather uneventful which is what I like to report. When I'm towing the truck still feels very balanced on the road. I'm not being pushed side to side by the mass of the trailer too much. It is doing it a little bit but not more than I would expect. And the truck is doing a good job of staying centered. I'm not, you know gripping this extra tight and holding on for dear life. I can drive roughly like I would normally. I wouldn't mind towing mirrors. That's just an added safety feature. It helps with visibility when you're towing something but you can adjust these and unlike say the Tahoe or Suburban these side mirrors are big enough on their own that I'm not uncomfortable towing without actual trailering mirrors. But I would like some. I'm sure the Chevy accessories department which is also working on things like bed racks and all sorts of gadgets and gizmos for the Silverado. EV will probably have a solution but there will probably be aftermarket solutions as well. Yeah, Silverado EV tows fairly well. We'll have to see if the RST with its different suspension, different sized tires different weight, more power, feels just as capable. But this does the job. After driving the Silverado EV work truck, I have to say I'm very impressed. I think it does a good job of being an electric work truck. I think the price is a little bit high but relative to the six figure Silverado EV RST that you'll be able to buy, this is somewhat of a bargain and it does have the higher range although the lesser power. This was a very limited experience and again, this is not the version you'll be able to buy for 2024 but it's a good sign of things to come and I'm really looking forward to the Silverado EV RST. You can check out my full report on cars.com.