Chevrolet Silverado EV | A good idea at a high price

The passage of the all-spot to the all-electric of the Silverado van brings a breath of freshness to a segment which, in recent years, has manifested little eagerness to reduce its carbon footprint.

While the F-150 Lightning takes a break-its manufacture is interrupted until January 6 due to a request deemed too low-, Chevrolet goes for it. The butterfly knot brand sprinkles its Silverado range with an entirely electrified van offer.

A few months after its release, the Silverado EV is wider. New variations are added to cover a larger market on the market. Despite this new salvo of livery, the RST still occupies the top of this hierarchy. It is certainly the most desirable, the most sophisticated, but also the most expensive. We are interested in it all the same, because it presents characteristics which inevitably will be democratized one day. Like ABS braking, heated seats or oversized infotainment screens.

Beautiful and less good surprises

With its peeled dumpster at the cabin which gives it, at the very least, a more slender, more slender look, the Silverado EV strangely recalls the avalanche van, which appeared 25 years earlier. All the more so when you discover that the latest Bé de Chevrolet reintroduces the “midgate”. This tip revealed on the avalanche consists of a removable partition allowing to extend the floor of the bucket (it is almost 6 feet or 1800 mm) up to the passenger compartment. But here stops the memory of the avalanche. The Silverado EV is a completely different van with an impressive towing capacity (that of the avalanche was not so much at the time), including compared to its gasoline fellows.

Welcoming and vast, the Silverado EV cabin is still struggling to see for a vehicle of this price. Nothing to do with sumptuous presentations of petrol models offered at similar prices. Plastic, plastic and still plastic.

A little more diversity in the choice of materials and more creativity would have been welcome. Also, Chevrolet could have made more efforts to better integrate the wireless charger (by induction) to maximize the storage on board.

And if we can be delighted with the preservation of several so -called “physical” commands, we regret in particular that the headlights light up or go out by spanking the central touch screen. We do not understand very well that the features ofAndroid Auto and ofApple CarPlay be truncated in this way. It is possible to call, of course, but it stops around there.

Anxiety, where are you?

The Silverado EV was not born from a completely white sheet. Its architecture derives quite closely from the Hummer EV, with the notable difference that the van offers, in its RST livery, two and not three electric motors. These eat with a huge battery of 213.7 kWh (204 kWh) which gives it an autonomy of more than 600 km. As part of this test, we managed to reach 674 km by adopting the most flexible driving. And without excessively soliciting the 754 horsepower and 785 pounds of torque which piaffe of impatience under the right foot. Anxiety linked to the need to calculate its trips to the nearest kilometer does not exist here. And as long as you have access to a quick terminal, the Silverado EV recharges in 56 minutes (from 20 % to 80 %). Time to take a bite or even do some shopping.

To these great performances are added a lively acceleration and vigorous covers, but which run out fairly quickly. These would have been much more so if the Silverado EV did not suffer so much overweight (3992 kg). And this is sometimes felt, despite the electronic and mechanical artifices supposed to alleviate these characteristics. Among these, let us underline the contribution of a four-wheel steering system (see our photos) which not only reduces the robbery diameter, but also to improve the stability of this mastodon on the fast tracks. To this, it is necessary to add the presence of a pneumatic suspension which relatively well defiled the imperfections of the road.

The management, multiplied as it should be on a vehicle of this template, turns out to be precise enough to indicate the trajectory of the front axle, but nothing more. As for braking, this chevrolet authorizes “pedal” driving. This is of good efficiency, however a gradator would have been appreciated to modulate the system according to its tastes and preferences. It is not too requested considering the price at which this van is displayed.