A Chevrolet Silverado EV travels 1700 km with a single recharge

There are different autonomy records for electric vehicles, including that established by the Lucid Air (1,205 km) that we told you about in early July. However, what the Silverado EV 2026 has just done reason.

During a test carried out by a team of engineers from General Motors, a copy of the Chevrolet electric van in Work Truck version (WT) with Max battery traveled 1,704.6 km without having to recharge. It is more than double its official autonomy, calculated at 793 km.

“Obtaining such autonomy with complete recharge is not the result of chance,” explains Kurt Kelty, vice-president of batteries, propulsion and sustainable development. It requires extensive integration between batteries chemistry, the efficiency of motor units, software and automotive engineering, and that’s exactly what the team has done. This success perfectly illustrates the progress made by our electric technology and the type of innovation that we develop every day at GM. »»

Note that the record was set at optimal road temperatures near the GM test center in Milford, Michigan, not continuously but rather an hour at a time, according to the weekly engineering schedule.

The components and systems of the truck have not been modified. On the other hand, changes to driving habits and small parameter adjustments were necessary, all within the acceptable limits established in the owner’s manual. Here are examples:

• When it was safe to do so, drivers had to maintain an average speed of 20-25 Mi/h (32-40 km/h) and minimize any sudden braking or rapid acceleration.
• During most of the test, no passenger was on board.
• The wiper arms were adjusted to the lowest acceptable position to reduce the drag.
• The tires were inflated to their maximum pressure acceptable for less resistance to the lower rolling.
• The emergency wheel was removed to lighten the vehicle.
• The parallelism of the wheels has been optimized.
• A cash cover was added for better aerodynamics.
• The air conditioning was disabled for the duration of the test.

“If we had rolled up all the time, it is certain that we would have obtained incredible autonomy, but that was not the goal. We wanted this test to be realistic, on the public highway, “said Jon Doremus, engineer responsible for propulsion settings.

In short, it was not only a challenge to boast, assures GM, although the Silverado EV battery was later used to feed a 3D printer that produced a commemorative trophy. Each kilometer traveled has brought lessons useful to engineers and these will be used to further improve future electric vehicles of the manufacturer.

See also: Top 10 electric vehicles with the best autonomy in 2025