Chevrolet Silverado EV 2025: autonomy, cost and recharge during a camping trip to eastern Canada

Paired Kuhn Kuhnfeld Kuhn Von

We left for the family for an expedition like no other: aboard the Chevrolet Silverado EV LT with prolonged autonomy, pulling a prolite rash escape 2025 of 1,935 lb. With everything you need for two adults and two children, that is to say provisions, toys, camping equipment, and of course photo equipment, totaling around 500 lb additional.

The purpose of the exercise? Test the autonomy and energy consumption of the vehicle in real conditions, towing across Quebec and the Maritimes. No compromise on the journey: we drove to the rhythm of traffic, without slowing down to save. The only planned stops were only to eat, sleep and catch our breath. A simple, but essential logistics, to take full advantage of the trip.

A word on our vehicle

Our Silverado EV LT was equipped with a battery with a capacity of 170 kWh. An even larger battery is offered with the WT Max Range and RST Max Range versions which offer a capacity of 205 kWh. We could have opted for the Max Range RST version, but we preferred to choose a happy medium. In our opinion, this is the version that most families would consider. In terms of autonomy, Chevrolet announces 657 km in ideal conditions. However, we recorded a real autonomy of approximately 400 km on the towing highway. This is equivalent to a loss of 39.1%, similar to what is observed in relation to its petrol counterpart.

Before embarking on our travel account, note that the Silverado EV offers several practical options for towing, such as the Deadic Angles Monitoring System and the Hitch Camera. In our case, we only have the basic camera, which displays only a view of the team. The multimedia system incorporates a menu designed specifically to configure and check the various parameters of a trailer. It turned out to be very useful, because I was able to check the operation of the lights without the need for a second person who must activate the indicators. In addition, Chevrolet recommends not to tow in the first 800 kilometers and stay under 80 km/h during this period. We unfortunately discovered it that after having traveled more than 2000 km … in short! For information, the trial vehicle has a towing capacity amounting to 12,500 lb.

Fight… electrons!

Before we start our journey, we visited the headquarters of Flo, in Quebec, in order to test their new rapid Flo ultra 320 kW terminal. It can supply two vehicles simultaneously, but also share the load between its two modules, so that the maximum power can reach 480 kW. You can compare it to a highway energy! Connected, the Silverado has reached a load speed oscillating between 305 and 310 kW and gained around 114 km of autonomy in less than 30 minutes.

Of course, we stayed longer than expected, because science (and cappuccino) demanded it. This means that we loaded up to 93% with the authorization of Flo on this test station. Between 80 and 90%, I observed that the charging station slowed down at 128 kW, which remains a high power. It was only once above 90% that the charging station started to decrease to reach a speed between 70 and 80 kW. However, our day was not over because we had to hit the road.

The journey

We arrived in Saint-Antonin to camp, a few kilometers from Rivière-du-Loup, in the middle of the downpour. There is nothing like a humid welcome to test the speed with which a caravan can be installed while avoiding the puddles of water and calming hungry children.

The next morning, we headed for Rivière-du-Loup to have breakfast and enjoy a delicious coffee. This also allowed us to recharge the vehicle for our next campsite, this time in New Brunswick, at the Mactaquac provincial park.

This campsite overlooks the Saint-Jean river and offers magnificent sunrise. It was then that we realized that the recharging infrastructure in New Brunswick was not up to that of Quebec. The charging stations are distant from each other and much slower. On the other hand, the recharging prices are based on time and not on the kilowatt hours. This means that if you have a vehicle that can absorb a lot of energy quickly, the cost of recharge can be lower.

The stage between MacTaquac and Cap-Pelé is what electric vehicle drivers call a section with cold sweats: 246 km of magnificent highway, but with few charging stations. A sign even warned: “no service station for 70 km”. It was ironic, since we were not looking for essence. It was therefore important that during lunch, we understood that the vehicle was sufficiently recharged. As the maximum speed authorized on this road is 110 km/h, traffic was much faster. She did not help consumption not only for her speed, but also her pronounced slopes.

However, the Silverado EV has displayed very reasonable energy consumption despite all these negative points. We finished this route with an electric consumption of 2.2 km/kWh (45.45 kWh/100 km), arriving with 28% battery thanks to a quick recharge during a toilet break. This would be our home for the next few days, when we could enjoy the beach at the Sandy Beach campsite and the lobster festival in Shediac.

Change of provinces

Our next step would be in another province, which gave us the opportunity to cross the bridge of the Confederation and to enter the Prince Edward Island. Strangely, the charging infrastructure was better developed here, and we saw more electric vehicles on the road. We took advantage of a magnificent view of the port before leaving.

Our least effective journey was that between Charlottetown and New Richmond, back in Quebec, with only 1.8 km/kWh (55.55 kWh/100 km); This section presented even more drops. This 528 km journey forced us to stop for a quick lunch in Bathurst and enjoy a local invention. Funny fact: McFlurry is a neo-Brunswickoise invention. So we naturally enjoyed one.

After a good night’s sleep, we left our trailer at the campsite to go to Percé and assess the energy consumption of the truck without trailer. We found an efficiency of 4 km/kWh (25 kWh/100 km), exceeding the estimates of Chevrolet. This means that it is possible to easily reach 700 km. On the way back, we stopped in Bonaventure to eat. The restaurant in question also provided several installed charging stations. In addition, wider locations could accommodate vehicles with a trailer. Offering 180 kW chargers next to a restaurant is an idea that is both practical and shiny.

Once satisfied, we decided to see how far we could push energy efficiency. It is during the last 25 kilometers of the journey that we think we have reached the limit of Silverado EV. We have identified a dimension of 5.2 km/kWh (19.23 kWh/100 km), which corresponds to the efficiency of a Chevrolet Equinox EV. Not bad! However, the road conditions allowed us to extricate the maximum and we believe that it is difficult to achieve on a daily basis. Note that the section of QC-132 is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful roads in Quebec. While the charging stations were rare in the past, they are now widely available throughout this road.

After seven days on the road, it was time to return to Montreal from New Richmond. The next stop was a quick break to recharge the battery from 54% to 80%, which took 23 minutes and 5 seconds-for a small walk on the banks of the St. Lawrence River. To end this day, we stopped at our last campsite in Trois-Pistoles, while there were 44% battery. At this point, there are only 500 km left to go to reach Montreal.

And in total?

In terms of rapid recharging, the total cost of the trip (excluding the last portion) returned to $ 575.08. This is almost half of what we would have paid in petrol with a V8, and we did not have to bear the smell of diesel once. Yes, this implies an average waste of time of one hour and 45 minutes a day during our trip for each recharge. However, these breaks were planned to eat, go to the toilet and visit the beaches, monuments and activities along our road getaway.

In figures, the average energy consumption for this trip was 2.3 km/kWh, which corresponds to 43.48 kWh/100 km over 3,616 km. Total energy consumption amounted to 1,572 kW for 10 days by road. So, is it possible to make a road getaway by electric vehicle in eastern Canada, while being limited in time? Yes, with a little organization and taking into account the activities of children, it is possible.

Was it all worth it? Absolutely. Between lobster sandwiches, installations under the storm and sleeping children after a day at the beach, the Silverado EV did everything discreetly and effectively.

To see: the 10 vans with the best towing capacity