GM unveils its Chevrolet Silverado EV RST electric pickup

(New York) The American manufacturer General Motors on Wednesday unveiled the electric version of its best-selling pickup truck, the Chevrolet Silverado EV, thus relaunching the race for electrification in this segment of large vehicles.

Presented at the big tech show in Las Vegas, it will first be available in two configurations: a model for professionals at US $ 40,000, which will go into production in spring 2023, and a more luxurious and with more options dubbed RST First Edition at 105,000 dollars, in production at the end of 2023.

Both will have a range of around 654 km on a full charge and may, with a fast charging station, be able to store enough energy in 10 minutes to cover 160 km.

The group, which also recently offers an electric Hummer, plans to then launch other versions at intermediate prices.

“It is very encouraging to see that GM is deliberately thinking about both its corporate and personal customers, which will help achieve the high volumes needed both for the company to make money and to drive real change in the business. adoption of electric vehicles, ”noted Jessica Caldwell of specialist firm Edmunds, in a note.

The vehicle will enter an already busy market, starting with the electric version of Ford’s popular pickup truck, the F-150, which is due to debut in the spring at a base price of around $ 40,000.

The start-up Rivian began production last September of its first vans for sale, called R1T. Tesla, for its part, presented a “cybertruck” which was initially to be launched at the end of 2021, but has since been postponed, without a specific date.

The Chevrolet Silverado EV is one of the elements of a broad shift towards electric which has been initiated by GM in recent years.

Group boss Mary Barra also announced on Wednesday a partnership with the American supermarket giant Walmart, which has reserved 5,000 electric utility vehicles with its BrightDrop subsidiary in order to develop its delivery service.

The carrier FedEx, which had been the first customer of this new subsidiary when it was launched in January 2021, for its part placed an option on 2,000 delivery vehicles in addition to the 500 already reserved last year.

The first BrightDrop EV600 pickup trucks were delivered to FedEx in December.