more than 1,700 km without recharging

General Motors has achieved a historical feat in the field of electric vehicles: a Chevrolet Silverado EV Max Range Work Truck toured more than 1,700 kilometers without recharging, widely exceeding the previous record and demonstrating the real potential of its Ultium electrical platform.

General Motors (GM) has established a new reference point in the electric vehicle industry to the reach 1,704.6 kilometers (1,059.2 miles) of autonomy with a single full battery charge in one Chevrolet Silverado EV Max Range Work Truck 2026. This milestone sucks the previous unofficial record of 1,205 km achieved by the Lucid Air, and redefines the efficiency and performance limits for an electric production pick-up.

The test, carried out on public roads around the MILFORD test field and finished on Belle Isle Island, in Detroit, was designed by a team of GM engineers as a Technical experiment in real conditions. He Objective: Check how far the model could go Silverado EV Max Range if all the factors were optimized within the margins allowed by the manufacturer itself.

No modifications, but with strategy

The vehicle used was a Production unit without modifications In its hardware or software, equipped with the 205 kWh battery pack. However, to maximize your performance, strategic adjustments were applied, all authorized by the User Manual. Among them were included:

-Inflaged tires at the highest safe pressure to reduce rolling resistance.

-The arms of the windshield wiper were placed in the lowest acceptable position to reduce resistance.

-The spare wheel was removed to lighten the vehicle.

-the alignment of the wheels was optimized.

An additional cover was added to facilitate air flow.

-Along of the air conditioning system throughout the test.

-Constant conduction at speeds between 32 and 40 km/h, considered optimal for vehicle efficiency.

-And finally, the test was performed in summer to achieve the optimal room temperature for battery efficiency.

The driving was made in one hour shifts by a group of engineers who integrated this task within their working days, adding a dimension of realism to the experiment.

More than a record, a technical validation

“Getting this autonomy with a complete load is no accident”said Kurt Kelty, vice president of batteries, propulsion and sustainability in GM. “It requires a deep integration between battery chemistry, the efficiency of the motor unit, the software and engineering of the vehicle. This achievement is a tangible example of the innovation that we promote in GM every day.”

Far from being an isolated or merely promotional feat, The brand considers that this test provided real and valuable data that will be applied to the future development of electric vehicles. In fact, the engineers responsible for the challenge used the remaining energy of the vehicle to feed a 3D printer that manufactured a commemorative trophy.

Autonomy, a key purchase factor

The Silverado EV Max Range 2026 already has an autonomy estimated by the EPA of 493 miles (about 793 km), the largest in its category. However, This experiment shows that, under optimized conditions, it is possible to double that figurewhich reaffirms GM’s confidence on its Ultium platform, the basis of its electrification strategy.

Although the brand will not register this achievement in the book Guinness of the records, GM considers this test as a technical validation of its technology, and a clear response to one of the main market concerns: anxiety for autonomy.