Along with Chevrolet’s newly unveiled light-duty Silverado EV, GM CEO Mary Barra also announced that the company would be producing all-electric heavy-duty pickup trucks in the future.
“As previously announced, our plan is to have all new light-duty vehicles be electric by 2035,” Barra said during her keynote address. “And today, I’m pleased to announce that we’ll introduce all-electric heavy-duty vehicles on that same timetable. These all-electric HD trucks will be engineered to deliver effortless heavy-duty hauling and towing while offering customers amazing new features and a range needed to get the toughest jobs done.”
While it is clear that GM will have electric HD trucks on the market by 2035, Barra’s choice of words makes it unclear whether they will be the only ones offered at that point. Although it gives the automaker plenty of time to phase out HD trucks with internal combustion engines, it has only said that it will stop selling internal combustion engines altogether in 2040, leaving a little wiggle room.
Read Also: 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV Debuts With 664 HP And 400 Mile Of Range
One way or another, that gives GM’s engineers plenty of time to work on an electric vehicle architecture capable of performing the duties of an HD truck. With EVs already producing mammoth amounts of torque, though, that may not be a particularly tall task.
As electric transport trucks and electric construction equipment are unveiled, and a number of electric work trucks hit the road, construction sites may soon be well-suited to EVs, which could make the transition easier.
In Work Truck trim, the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV will feature a pair of motors that produce 510 hp (375 kW/517 PS) and 615 lb-ft (834 Nm) of torque and go 400 miles per charge. In its top trim, though, the truck is capable of producing 664 hp (495 kW/673 PS) and 780+ lb-ft (1,056+ Nm) of torque.
