General Motors is continuing its push into the EV market by announcing that it will build an all-electric Chevrolet Silverado pickup. GM President Mark Reuss made the announcement this morning as the automaker updated the media on the conversion of the Detroit-Hamtramck plant into the all-electric Factory ZERO.
Chevrolet released a tease of the new logo for the electric Chevrolet Silverado but no photos of the pickup that is expected to get 400 miles on a full charge.
“The vehicles coming from Factory ZERO will change the world, and how the world views electric vehicles,” said Reuss. “The GMC HUMMER EV SUV joins its stablemate in the realm of true supertrucks, and Chevrolet will take everything Chevy’s loyal truck buyers love about Silverado — and more — and put it into an electric pickup that will delight retail and commercial customers alike.”
Details on the Electric Silverado
Reuss did not give a timetable for the new Silverado, but said this Silverado is designed from the ground up to be an all-electric, full-sized pickup. Like the GMC HUMMER EV and GMC HUMMER EV SUV, the Silverado will be built on GM’s new Ultium battery platform. Reuss says he is especially excited about the truck and its use in the fleet and commercial markets.
GM is spending $2.2 billion to renovate and upgrade the plant now known as Factory ZERO. Reuss pointed out that he used to work at the facility and Chairman and CEO Mary Barra was the plant manager years ago. The plant which sits partly in Detroit and Hamtramck now measures over 4.5 million square feet. The plant used to build Cadillacs and was the first facility to build GM’s halo electric vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt.
The plan to build electric Silverados in Detroit is not expected to affect the production of the gas-powered Chevrolet Silverado 1500s at the Fort Wayne Assembly Plant. The current Chevy Silverado and its cousin, the GMC Sierra, are huge vehicles for GM. The trucks and their heavy-duty versions are major profit centers for the automaker. It is interesting that GM is stressing that this will be an all-new version of the Silverado and not just one that is upfitted with an electric powertrain. Reuss did not mention if there will be a GMC Sierra version.
GM’s Electric Future
So far, GM has confirmed that the GMC HUMMER EV, the GMC HUMMER EV SUV, the Cruise Origin and now the Chevrolet Silverado will all be built at Factory ZERO.
Mark Reuss reaffirmed GM’s commitment to deliver more than 30 different electric vehicles worldwide by 2025. The goal is to sell over 1 million EVs globally by the end of 2025.
Just this past weekend, GMC unveiled its all-new 2024 GMC HUMMER EV SUV. The 830 horsepower EV SUV will go into production in 2023. The launch Edition 1 of the SUV version reportedly sold out in just ten minutes, despite the cost of at least $105,595.
Factory ZERO should start production of the 2022 GMC HUMMER EV supertruck later this year.
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