Connect with us
General-motors-chevrolet-silverado-ev General-motors-chevrolet-silverado-ev

News

GM unveils the Chevrolet Silverado EV, coming in 2024

2024 Silverado EV RST

Published

on

Chevrolet, a General Motors brand, unveiled the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV today, the all-electric version of the automaker’s best-selling pickup truck.

The Silverado EV could be considered an answer to Ford’s F-150 Lightning, Tesla’s Cybertruck, Rivian’s R1T, or even GMC’s Hummer EV. In fact, it will definitely be an option for consumers who are looking to pick up their first battery-powered pickup. Chevy unveiled the vehicle at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

“Chevrolet has constantly revolutionized the Silverado franchise to make it the powerhouse it is today, VP of Chevrolet Steve Hill said. “The Ultium Platform is a critical enabler of next-level pickup truck performance for both fleet and retail customers, whether they are currently driving a Silverado or are considering a pickup for the first time.”

GM has estimated that the Silverado EV will have 400 miles of range on a full charge, 664 horsepower with more than 780 lb-ft of torque in its Wide Open Watts Mode, DC charging up to 350kW, 10.2 kW of offboard power, and 10,000 lbs of towing capacity with up to 1,300 pounds of payload on some variants. Chevrolet plans to release the flagship RST First Edition initially, which includes features like four-wheel steering, adaptive air suspension, Super Cruise, GM’s semi-autonomous driving software, and a 17-inch LCD infotainment screen.

The Silverado EV will feature GM’s new 24-module Ultium battery pack, which helps the vehicle obtain its impressive range rating. The Ultium battery pack is GM’s key to its transition to EVs, as it acts as a structural design that gives strength, durability, and performance due to its engineering. The vehicle’s chassis is also coupled with independent front and rear suspensions, which help with offroad terrain and on-road performance.

In December, reports suggested that GM would attempt to get production of the Silverado EV underway in early 2023. The company will debut a WT model with the longest-range battery in Spring 2023. In the fall, the RST First Edition model will then enter production and debut with an MSRP of over $105,000. Other trims will land around the $50,000, $60,000, $70,000, and $80,000 price points. Reservations for the Silverado EV open at 1 PM EST.

GM will manufacture the Silverado EV at its Factory ZERO facility in Detroit, Michigan, which is inspired by the automaker’s goal of “zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion.”

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

Advertisement
Comments

News

Tesla winter weather test: How long does it take to melt 8 inches of snow?

Published

on

Credit: Teslarati

In Pennsylvania, we got between 10 and 12 inches of snow over the weekend as a nasty Winter storm ripped through a large portion of the country, bringing snow to some areas and nasty ice storms to others.

I have had a Model Y Performance for the week courtesy of Tesla, which got the car to me last Monday. Today was my last full day with it before I take it back to my local showroom, and with all the accumulation on it, I decided to run a cool little experiment: How long would it take for Tesla’s Defrost feature to melt 8 inches of snow?

Tesla Model Y Performance set for new market entrance in Q1

Tesla’s Defrost feature is one of the best and most underrated that the car has in its arsenal. While every car out there has a defrost setting, Tesla’s can be activated through the Smartphone App and is one of the better-performing systems in my opinion.

It has come in handy a lot through the Fall and Winter, helping clear up my windshield more efficiently while also clearing up more of the front glass than other cars I’ve owned.

The test was simple: don’t touch any of the ice or snow with my ice scraper, and let the car do all the work, no matter how long it took. Of course, it would be quicker to just clear the ice off manually, but I really wanted to see how long it would take.

Tesla Model Y heat pump takes on Model S resistive heating in defrosting showdown

Observations

I started this test at around 10:30 a.m. It was still pretty cloudy and cold out, and I knew the latter portion of the test would get some help from the Sun as it was expected to come out around noon, maybe a little bit after.

I cranked it up and set my iPhone up on a tripod, and activated the Time Lapse feature in the Camera settings.

The rest of the test was sitting and waiting.

Advertisement

It didn’t take long to see some difference. In fact, by the 20-minute mark, there was some notable melting of snow and ice along the sides of the windshield near the A Pillar.

However, this test was not one that was “efficient” in any manner; it took about three hours and 40 minutes to get the snow to a point where I would feel comfortable driving out in public. In no way would I do this normally; I simply wanted to see how it would do with a massive accumulation of snow.

It did well, but in the future, I’ll stick to clearing it off manually and using the Defrost setting for clearing up some ice before the gym in the morning.

Check out the video of the test below:

Continue Reading

News

Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing without a Safety Monitor proves to be difficult

Published

on

Credit: Grok Imagine

Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing without a Safety Monitor is proving to be a difficult task, according to some riders who made the journey to Austin to attempt to ride in one of its vehicles that has zero supervision.

Last week, Tesla officially removed Safety Monitors from some — not all — of its Robotaxi vehicles in Austin, Texas, answering skeptics who said the vehicles still needed supervision to operate safely and efficiently.

BREAKING: Tesla launches public Robotaxi rides in Austin with no Safety Monitor

Tesla aimed to remove Safety Monitors before the end of 2025, and it did, but only to company employees. It made the move last week to open the rides to the public, just a couple of weeks late to its original goal, but the accomplishment was impressive, nonetheless.

However, the small number of Robotaxis that are operating without Safety Monitors has proven difficult to hail for a ride. David Moss, who has gained notoriety recently as the person who has traveled over 10,000 miles in his Tesla on Full Self-Driving v14 without any interventions, made it to Austin last week.

He has tried to get a ride in a Safety Monitor-less Robotaxi for the better part of four days, and after 38 attempts, he still has yet to grab one:

Tesla said last week that it was rolling out a controlled test of the Safety Monitor-less Robotaxis. Ashok Elluswamy, who heads the AI program at Tesla, confirmed that the company was “starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader Robotaxi fleet with Safety Monitors,” and that “the ratio will increase over time.”

This is a good strategy that prioritizes safety and keeps the company’s controlled rollout at the forefront of the Robotaxi rollout.

However, it will be interesting to see how quickly the company can scale these completely monitor-less rides. It has proven to be extremely difficult to get one, but that is understandable considering only a handful of the cars in the entire Austin fleet are operating with no supervision within the vehicle.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla gives its biggest hint that Full Self-Driving in Europe is imminent

Published

on

Credit: BLKMDL3 | X

Tesla has given its biggest hint that Full Self-Driving in Europe is imminent, as a new feature seems to show that the company is preparing for frequent border crossings.

Tesla owner and influencer BLKMDL3, also known as Zack, recently took his Tesla to the border of California and Mexico at Tijuana, and at the international crossing, Full Self-Driving showed an interesting message: “Upcoming country border — FSD (Supervised) will become unavailable.”

Due to regulatory approvals, once a Tesla operating on Full Self-Driving enters a new country, it is required to comply with the laws and regulations that are applicable to that territory. Even if legal, it seems Tesla will shut off FSD temporarily, confirming it is in a location where operation is approved.

This is something that will be extremely important in Europe, as crossing borders there is like crossing states in the U.S.; it’s pretty frequent compared to life in America, Canada, and Mexico.

Tesla has been working to get FSD approved in Europe for several years, and it has been getting close to being able to offer it to owners on the continent. However, it is still working through a lot of the red tape that is necessary for European regulators to approve use of the system on their continent.

This feature seems to be one that would be extremely useful in Europe, considering the fact that crossing borders into other countries is much more frequent than here in the U.S., and would cater to an area where approvals would differ.

Tesla has been testing FSD in Spain, France, England, and other European countries, and plans to continue expanding this effort. European owners have been fighting for a very long time to utilize the functionality, but the red tape has been the biggest bottleneck in the process.

Advertisement

Tesla Europe builds momentum with expanding FSD demos and regional launches

Tesla operates Full Self-Driving in the United States, China, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.

Continue Reading