“1,705 km without recharging”: the Chevrolet Silverado EV pushes the autonomy record

General Motors has just pushed the limits. Its electric pick-up, the Chevrolet Silverado EV, has traveled 1,059.2 miles, or about 1,705 kilometers, on a single load. A figure which exceeds 500 kilometers the previous record of the Lucid Air GT. Behind this feat, an extreme technical optimization and a behavior designed for each watt.

Goldsmith work on battery and mechanics

To reach this distance, the team of engineers of GM has everything settled to the millimeter. Kurt Kelty, vice-president in charge of batteries, propulsion and sustainability, affirms it: obtaining such autonomy “is not done by chance”. Battery, motorization, software, aerodynamics: each element has been thought of as a piece of the same puzzle. The tires, for example, were inflated to the maximum recommended pressure to reduce rolling resistance. A cash cover has been installed in order to streamline the air passage. Apparently minimal modifications, but crucial once combined.

Conditions far from daily reality

The test took place in the heart of summer, in Michigan. Ideal temperatures for battery cells, but not for the driver: no air conditioning, closed windows, and only one occupant on board. Speed? Hold between 32 and 40 km/h, well below any current use. This slow beach made it possible to devote almost all the energy to propulsion, by limiting the consumption of annex systems. We are therefore far from a realistic scenario for an average user.

A millimeter loop around the test center

The route was done on public roads, around the Milford Proving Ground of GM, with a symbolic end point: Belle Isle, in Detroit. The drivers, taking turns by one hour slots, joined the challenge in their working days. Thus, the Silverado chained the towers without really leaving the region. The goal was not to simulate a classic journey, but to push the 205 kWh battery in its entrenchments.

A feat assumed as a technical demonstration

GM did not look for the validation of Guinness World Records. The event remained internal: instead of an official certificate, the engineers received a 3D printed trophy … with a printer powered by the Silverado battery, recharged after the feat. A wink that sums up the spirit of the operation: showing what technology is capable, rather than offering a recipe usable by all.

And after?

The question remains open: how to translate this know-how into serial vehicles, usable on a daily basis? Because if this record impresses, it cannot be reproduced under normal conditions. For GM, the challenge is now to pass part of these optimizations – software management, engine yield, aerodynamics – in its commercial models. The objective: to bring the laboratory records closer to the realities of the road.